Throughout much of the season, the MVP race has been a two man race between James Harden and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Then in January, it appears James Harden locked it up with his incredible scoring streak in which he has scored at least 30 points in the last 30 games. Harden for sure seemed to lock up the award when he scored 61 points in Madison Square Garden. Now here we are, and both Gianna and Harden are still playing the same amazing basketball they’ve been playing. Giannis’ Bucks are the first seed in the much-improved Eastern Conference, while Harden has saved the Rockets season after a very slow start marred by injuries to Chris Paul, Eric Gordon, and now young budding star Clint Capela. Fast forward to today, and a third player has come out of nowhere; someone who has been scrutinized for his decision not to join Lebron James in LA… that player is Paul George. George resigned from the Oklahoma City Thunder this offseason despite the push from his family to join his hometown Lakers. George decided to stay loyal to Oklahoma City and his good friend Russell Westbrook who also was considered a problem due to his high volume shooting and poor basketball IQ. Paul George not only resigned, but he may in fact may have made the smartest move of the offseason. Oklahoma City is arguably the hottest team in basketball right now, and it is mostly due to the incredible play of George who has gone to a level we have not seen him reach nor expected him to reach after his gruesome injury back in 2014. Over the last 10 games, Oklahoma City has won 8 out their last 10 sitting at third in the Western Conference at 37-20 and in their hot stretch, one of the games was against James Harden the favorite for MVP. George walked into Houston and brought his team back from a 26-point deficit. In that game, George had 45 points and 11 rebounds shooting 54% from the field. He outplayed Harden when it counted in the 4th quarter and has started to take some shine away from Harden and has now made it a three man race for MVP. George obtained some big endorsements from the Portland Trail Blazers. Star Damian Lillard said, “He’s on a different level., after watching him over the last 10 games or so. I catch a lot of their games, and then seeing him tonight, I believe that this dude is the MVP. If they keep this up, he’s MVP.” This season, George has led the Thunder to a top 3 seed in the West going into the All-Star break. He’s come up big time and time again against the best teams in the league, which was a knock against George throughout his career. So far this season, he leads the league in steals per game with 2.3 and he’s improved his points per game from 21.9 last season to 28.7 while also improving his rebounding from 5.7 to 8 per game. George is making a strong case for MVP this season, and with a strong second half to the season, he may very well be the third Oklahoma City player to win MVP this decade.
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