Isaiah Thomas
no player is as valuable to his team or has played better this year than Isaiah

Westbrook and it's not even close. The season he is having is simply nuts. Where would OKC be without him after Durant left.

[Edited on 4/1/2017 by porkchopbob]

He's only 2 games away from The Big O's triple double record according to ESPN -- he's played awesome

"not even close" tho?? What Isaiah has done this year goes beyond MVP, he's All-World -- 1st place East Conf, yababy --

also OKC has fallen to second behind Jazz since Durant left -- but yes Westbrook's stats are off the charts -- James Harden was mentioned, he deserves consideration IMO

I have to go with Westbrook.
All around game has been lights out.
Westbrook is doing it all.

He's only 2 games away from The Big O's triple double record according to ESPN -- he's played awesome

"not even close" tho?? What Isaiah has done this year goes beyond MVP, he's All-World -- 1st place East Conf, yababy --

also OKC has fallen to second behind Jazz since Durant left -- but yes Westbrook's stats are off the charts -- James Harden was mentioned, he deserves consideration IMO

Westbrook is leading OKC in every major stat category except blocks, and he's averaging a triple double, which hasn't been done in decades. Without him, they'd be in the lottery for sure. Thomas is having a great season for sure, as is Harden, but the East is a little softer than the West is.

Die hard Celtics fan for 50 years but it is Westbrook plain and simple. Almost everyone mentioned here is worthy but Russ is the man this year period.

I'm with Westbrook............he's just having too phenomenal a year and as porkchop said OKC would be a lottery team without him.

Harden is an incredible player but two things about him bother me:

1. He makes his living at the free throw line. He is averaging more shot attempts from the line than he is from the field. Only two other players have ever done that, and Harden had done it four times. He knows how to draw fouls and the refs often help him.

2. Why does he fall on his face so often in big games against the Warriors? The Warriors beat the Rockets TWICE this week, one in Houston and one in Oakland (oh and by the way folks, they won at San Antonio the night after winning at Houston. So anyone who thinks they're a pushover without Durant............THINK AGAIN). Last night Harden was 4-17 from the field, 2-9 from 3, 7-7 from the line for 17 points. He had a very similar game Tuesday in Houston against the Warriors.

[Edited on 4/1/2017 by robslob]

He definitely won't win, but it's LeBron for me. OKC would be a lottery team without Westbrook for sure, but they are only 6th and at risk to drop to 7th in the West with him. That's not impressive enough from a team success perspective for my MVP vote. Cleveland will end up either the #1 or #2 seed, but their defense is so poor that they would be in serious danger to be in the lottery without LeBron.

The raw numbers for LeBron are close to Westbrook's, but LeBron has been much, much more efficient. He scores way more efficiently and turns the ball over far less.
Lastly, if they switched teams I have no doubt OKC is much higher in the standings and CLE is quite a bit lower.

As for who will actually win, I think it's a coin flip between Westbrook and Harden - which is too bad because I think both Kawhi and LeBron are actually better in my opinion - but neither will win.

[Edited on 4/1/2017 by slothrop8]

This may be the toughest NBA MVP vote since 1962..........really, you could split the award between five different players. I won't try to fill in the blanks as to who, that's pretty much been done.

1962?

1. Bill Russell. Kinda hard to argue since the Celts won it all. But look at these numbers:
2. Wilt Chamberlain (Philadelphia Warriors): Averaged 50 points and 25 rebounds a game.
3. Oscar Robertson (Cincinnati Royals): Two guys finished before him.......and he AVERAGED a triple double: 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, 11.4 assists.

It should be noted that Russell's Celtics beat Chamberlain's Warriors in 7 games for the Eastern Conference Championship, Russell "holding" Chamberlain to 22 points, less than half his average, in a game 7 that went right down to the wire. The Celtics went on the beat the Lakers (featuring Jerry West and Elgin Baylor) to win it all in another extremely competitive 7 game series. Game seven again went down to the final seconds. And oh yeah..........note that neither Jerry West or Elgin Baylor could crack the top 3 in the MVP race. Kinda like this year.

[Edited on 4/1/2017 by robslob]

Nobody seems to have noticed, but the Warriors have a blistering winning streak mostly ON THE ROAD against all of the leading MVP candidates and have done nothing but whip the ass of all of them WITHOUT Durant. My choice for MVP - Steph Curry. Hands down.

Nobody seems to have noticed, but the Warriors have a blistering winning streak mostly ON THE ROAD against all of the leading MVP candidates and have done nothing but whip the ass of all of them WITHOUT Durant. My choice for MVP - Steph Curry. Hands down.

best joke i saw all day. curry isn't one of the top 5 players in the league this year much less the mvp.

Nobody seems to have noticed, but the Warriors have a blistering winning streak mostly ON THE ROAD against all of the leading MVP candidates and have done nothing but whip the ass of all of them WITHOUT Durant. My choice for MVP - Steph Curry. Hands down.

best joke i saw all day. curry isn't one of the top 5 players in the league this year much less the mvp.

Thanks. Hardest I've laughed all day.

Nobody seems to have noticed, but the Warriors have a blistering winning streak mostly ON THE ROAD against all of the leading MVP candidates and have done nothing but whip the ass of all of them WITHOUT Durant. My choice for MVP - Steph Curry. Hands down.

best joke i saw all day. curry isn't one of the top 5 players in the league this year much less the mvp.

Thanks. Hardest I've laughed all day.

then you don't watch enough basketball. thomas, harden, westbrook, leonard, james, and KAT at least are all playing better than curry. heck kyrie irving might be too.curry isn't even the leading scorer on his own team. draymond is actually the mvp of the warriors the last few years and it showed when the warriors couldn't win when he was suspended.

I vote for anyone that doesn't have their mouth guard hanging out of their mouth every time that the camera shows him. 😛

You guys aren't looking at the "Curry as MVP" issue from the right perspective.

Curry altered and sacrificed his game in order to incorporate one of the league's truly elite players, Kevin Durant, into their offense. And he's ramped it up in this 10 game run they are on. Talk about ramping it up, how about Klay Thompson? He's been spectacular, and he also happens to be one of the great defensive players in the NBA.

But if any Warrior was an MVP candidate this year it was Durant. I say "was" because his extended rehab at crunch time has taken him out of the running. He was having an MVP kind of year and he altered his game as well, ramping up his play at the defensive end and often guarding the opposing center.

Pretty hard to pick a MVP from a stacked team. Points for winning? Leading a team with multiple leaders? Take any piece away and they still win.

I lean more towards a player who is carrying the team and performing above expectations and to me that is Westbrook here.

You guys aren't looking at the "Curry as MVP" issue from the right perspective.

Curry altered and sacrificed his game in order to incorporate one of the league's truly elite players, Kevin Durant, into their offense. And he's ramped it up in this 10 game run they are on. Talk about ramping it up, how about Klay Thompson? He's been spectacular, and he also happens to be one of the great defensive players in the NBA.

But if any Warrior was an MVP candidate this year it was Durant. I say "was" because his extended rehab at crunch time has taken him out of the running. He was having an MVP kind of year and he altered his game as well, ramping up his play at the defensive end and often guarding the opposing center.

Absolutely, but I don't think any of them qualify for MVP. I'm sure Curry won't mind missing out on an MVP if they win another championship. Right now, yet again, there are the Warriors and the Spurs, and then there's everyone else.

I vote for anyone that doesn't have their mouth guard hanging out of their mouth every time that the camera shows him.

Why you hating on LeBron?

[Edited on 4/2/2017 by porkchopbob]

Ahhhhhh so he taught Curry. Once again Lebron tops him. 😛

Warriors 139, playoff-bound third seed in the East Washington Wizards 115. Steph Curry 42 points, 8 assists, 1 board, 1 turnover in 35 minutes. Highly overrated, like Meryl Streep.

Oh - and no Durant.

And if it wasn't for the cheap foul, Harden wouldn't even be in this discussion.

rmack no one understands your points. the top seed in the west, a harder conference, beat the 3rd seed in the east? well no junk. for the last 3 years people have been saying the east was an easier conference.

next you notice you are the only person crying curry is the mvp. I know diehard warriors fans who say easily its westbrook and if not him its thomas or kawhi. everyone seems to have a beef with james harden for whatever reason but I see his name everywhere. I don't recall seeing curry named on any espn show. just the fact curry was the first ever unanimous mvp in nba history is also a bit of a joke

heres one foe you rmack. the spurs beat the jazz who are the 4th seed in the west, the harder conference, without Aldridge, david lee, patty mills or manu. do they win some prize too? that's a starter and 2 key backups not playing at all.

[Edited on 4/3/2017 by matt05]

Stop taking this so personally, for christ sakes. Fuck this, I'm done. Knock yourself out.

Stop taking this so personally, for christ sakes. Fuck this, I'm done. Knock yourself out.

I'm not taking anything personally. you stated curry. everyone in this thread said nope. you started posting more stuff. to be honest it should be Thomas because the Celtics are in first place and don't have 4 all stars on the entire roster. I think the cavs have 5 all stars and the warriors have 4 all stars who start and two more on the bench. I can't see how brad stevens doesn't win coach of the year

Pretty hard to pick a MVP from a stacked team. Points for winning? Leading a team with multiple leaders? Take any piece away and they still win.

I lean more towards a player who is carrying the team and performing above expectations and to me that is Westbrook here.

like I said
Cleveland=5 players on the roster who have been nba all stars
warriors= 6 players on the roster who have been nba all stars
Celtics- 2 players on the roster who have been nba all stars

Chances are it will go Westbrook, then a mix of IT, LeBron, Curry, Harden etc --
Wstbrk is 1 away from Oscar's record -- he's deserving, altho no player means as much to his team as IT does to us

The Big O -- he & Kareem, wotta tandem -- but did you know Oscar played a few games w/Bob Cousy late in 1970 season when Cooz, then coaching the Royals, made a 7-game cameo/return to the court at 41

yes, no KD & suddenly they're the devastating Curry/Klay/Braymond G. GSW of old -- same in Chi., no Dwayne W, suddenly Jimmy Butler has em lookin like da Bulls -- RR in 1 of his grooves too, 25/11/6 Sat, 10/9/9 yesterday -- w/the woeful remains of NYK next up for da Bulls -- Bulls & Mil. Bucks surging, Indy shittin the bed

wotta game Indy had w/Cleve ystrdy

It's a playoff game Wed in Boston, that's all there is to it -- the equivalent of a Game 4 or 5

same thing Tues in Utah against streaking Port -- Jazz have been great this year -- Derrick Favors has given it his all but his knees are shot unfortunately, but he still can help

http://www.espn.com/blog/okc-thunder/post/_/id/2456/as-westbrook-makes-history-thunder-dominate-the-bucks

As Westbrook makes history, Thunder dominate the Bucks

OKLAHOMA CITY -- With his left leg crossed in front of his right, Russell Westbrook gave a little wave and patted his heart. The game had been paused, right around the nine-minute mark of the third quarter, to acknowledge history. As the public-address announcer tried to yell over a roaring crowd to recognize Westbrook's 41st triple-double, referee Gary Zielinski had the ball tucked under his left arm, waiting to restart play. Westbrook gave Zielinski a quick nod.

Let's get this going again.

Andre Roberson inbounded the ball, and with the crowd buzzing, Westbrook cranked a straightaway 3-pointer. All air. A little bit tough to keep concentration after all of that?

"Definitely, man," Westbrook said with a big smile. "I air-balled a 3 right after it."

Russell Westbrook tied the NBA record for triple-doubles in a season with his 41st on Tuesday against the Bucks. Mark D. Smith/USA TODAY Sports

It was all fun for Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday as they stomped the red-hot Milwaukee Bucks 110-79, leading by as many as 39. Westbrook's teammates celebrated postgame by dumping water on him during his on-court interview, and a lot of the crowd hung around to chant "MVP" as he walked off the floor.

"I do really feel like tonight was a team moment, too," Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. "Obviously Russell was the one that scored and assisted and rebounded, no question, but you have to be part of a team for that to happen. And that was the really great part too. I think Russell was really humbled and the guys were great and the fans were awesome."

And while the focus inside the locker room was on Westbrook's remarkable accomplishment, not to be overlooked was the fact the Thunder played one of their most complete games of the season. They overwhelmed the Bucks, showcasing their speed, athleticism and size. Alex Abrines hit 4-of-6 from 3-point range before having to leave with a knee sprain. Enes Kanter was a load on the interior. The scoring attack was refreshingly balanced, a happy medium that's been difficult for Westbrook and the Thunder to find this season.

"Like I've said before," Westbrook said, "Winning is the most important thing, especially for me and definitely for our team. It was a good win for us."

The Thunder have made a habit of winning when Westbrook records a triple-double this season -- now 32-9 -- but they had lost in the last two instances, a tough defeat to the Spurs and an ugly one to the Hornets, both at home. There was an urgency to the way they played Tuesday. Maybe it was because of the proximity to history, or maybe it was the Thunder were in desperate need of a performance. And in those moments this season, Westbrook has often delivered.

"The other part that's been really positive too is, when that's happened, our team has won," Donovan said. "I'm not saying all the time, but clearly he's impacting the game with his rebounding, assists and scoring. It has helped our team, and I think the record speaks for itself."

It wasn't the most dominant Westbrook performance -- his 12 points were a season low -- but he ran the game for the three quarters he played; he had 13 assists to go with 13 rebounds. The Thunder were supercharged, riding Westbrook's wave, with the offense rolling and the defense suffocating. The ball popped all over the floor, and highlighted by Roberson's impressive defense on Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Thunder blew the game open in the second quarter. By the end, it was their largest margin of victory of the season.

"We understand that sometimes when we tend to blow teams out we let our foot off the gas," Taj Gibson said, "but tonight we wanted to play a full 48 and really crush teams."

Westbrook has five games left to pass Oscar Robertson's single-season mark and needs just 16 assists to clinch averaging a triple-double for the season. But the Thunder also have five games to solidify their position in the West, starting on Wednesday in Memphis. With a win there they can secure no worse than the 6-seed. This season has centered on Westbrook and the history he's chasing, but the Thunder are closing the book on what's been an impressive bounce-back campaign in the wake of Kevin Durant's departure. Still, there are games to be played and a level to reach as they enter the postseason. Westbrook sees the Thunder as a contender, and while that's a bold thing to believe, if they can bottle the kind of energy and intensity featured on Tuesday, it's at least a step in that direction.

Absolutely amazing season by Westbrook. I always thought the Big O's triple-double record was one of those untouchable marks from another era, like Chamberlain's 50 ppg. I think if you lead your team in every major stat, except blocks, and average a triple double, you are probably the most valuable. That's not to take away from Thomas, Lebron, and to a lesser extent, Harden, Leonard, and Curry & Thompson, but Westbrook is absolutely lights out right now.