You don’t win a Kia MVP award before the NBA trade deadline has come and gone.
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History tells us that wrapping up that race before the NFL crowns its Super Bowl champion doesn't add up.
But if James Harden continues on his current path, leading the Houston Rockets on an impressive ride this season while doing things (a 60-point triple-double earlier this week) we’ve never seen before, it’ll be tough to deny him in the coveted pot of gold that comes at the end of the Kia Race to the MVP Ladder rainbow.
That hardware has eluded him twice in the past three seasons. He was the runner-up to Stephen Curry in 2015 and again to Russell Westbrook last season, coming up short both times with seasons that were certainly worthy of a Kia MVP.
There is no one having one of those kinds of transcendent seasons this time around, well ... no one other than Harden. He leads the league in scoring (31.5 points per game) and ranks third in assists (9.1 apg).
He’s putting on virtuoso performances night after night, making Hall of Famers swoon watching him work Mike D’Antoni’s system to perfection.
"An incredible game from an incredible scorer,” Isiah Thomas said on The Players Only broadcast after Harden’s 60-point triple-double. “He really understands this Rockets offense, where everyone is at, where everybody is supposed to be, where he’s going to get his shot, how he can create shots for everyone else. He makes plays. He’s in such a relaxed rhythm out there. You don’t see him playing fast, he’s not rushing out there … Really, when you watch him play, it’s like he’s playing in slow motion out there.”
Harden has a date with four-time Kia MVP winner LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunda (AEDT) at Quicken Loans Arena. It is a prime-time opportunity for Harden to stamp his MVP case ... and do so months ahead of the actual finish line.
“This is probably the biggest part of our season right here,” Harden told TNT’s David Aldridge after the win over the Spurs, when asked how crucial this stretch before All-Star weekend is for the Rockets. “We’ve had a lot of injuries, guys in and out of the lineup, so we’ve got put these wins together. I think we’ve got six or seven more games to go into All-Star with some confidence and our swagger and then carry it over after the break as well.”