Is Kevin Durant finally going to win the Most Valuable Player award?

This year seems to be the year Kevin Durant might finally pass LeBron James as the Most Valuable Player in the NBA. LeBron James has won this award four of the last five years, and coming off two in a row. LeBron has been the best player in the NBA for all those years. Arguably Kevin Durant has always been second, and Derrick Rose could be in the argument when he is healthy. In the past five years, it seemed to always be that LeBron was in his own category or elite and everyone else was looking up to him. But now it seems that Kevin Durant is knocking on that door and is looking to join LeBron James.

Kevin Durant this season has been playing the best basketball of his career. As of now in the 2013-2014 NBA season, Durant is averaging 31.2 points per game, 5.5 assists per game, and 7.6 rebounds per game. His averages for points and assists are both at career highs as of now. Durant is also shooting 51% from the field, 42% from behind the arch, and 88% from the free throw line. Durant is very close to another 50-40-90 season, which he has done before. At a point in this season, Durant had a twelve game streak of scoring thirty or more points, which was amazing to watch. During that stretch Durant could not have been stopped. He was scoring at will and was doing it efficiently, which might have been the most impressive thing about the streak. Also during this season, Durant has also overcome his all-star teammate Russell Westbrook missing time due to multiple knee injuries. Even though Westbrook is injured, the Thunder is still a threat to win it all and bring a Championship to Oklahoma City.

Kevin Durant seems to be to many people as of now the leader in the MVP race. He has elevated his game to where his stats are out of this world, but his team hasn’t become worse because of it. Usually when players start putting up numbers like KD has been, the team will play poorly since they only watch that player play instead of playing as a team. But this is not the case for Durant and the Thunder. Durant is making this team better now, and it seems to be that they will only get better when Westbrook comes back healthy. Some people think when Westbrook comes back, that it might hurt this team. I can see where they are coming from, but the chemistry between Durant and Westbrook is amazing. When Westbrook was healthy during the year, the Thunder seemed to be untouchable. I believe this will still be the case when he does in fact come back. Which seems to be closer than later. Obviously with Westbrook coming back Durant’s numbers will not be the same as they are now. But with another all-star caliber player on the floor with him, it will help spread the floor and keep all the defensive attention off Durant.

The Oklahoma City Thunder is a championship caliber team right now. They will only get better with the return of Russell Westbrook. They have everything a team needs to be able to win it all. This year could without a doubt be the year Kevin Durant stops coming up short in the MVP race and also in the finals. The season is only half way over, but it seems to be that the Thunder will be going far into the playoffs like they have been. It will not be easy, but they can make the case for this team to make it all the way to the top.