Harden suggests he deserves MVP over Westbrook
A pair of former Oklahoma City Thunder teammates are going head to head in the race for Most Valuable Player.
Russell Westbrook has gotten plenty of love in the MVP conversation, and deservedly so, as he's averaging a triple-double while single-handedly willing his Thunder to the playoffs.
Meanwhile, his ex-teammate James Harden is putting up stellar numbers as the leader of a superior Houston Rockets club.
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Without directly saying he's the league MVP, Harden suggested voters should factor in a player's value to their club along with the team's overall success.
"I think obviously individually you have to have a really, really good season, but your team has to be in position to be one of the top teams in your respective conference," Harden told the Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen. "Then, just look how valuable you are to that team. If you're taken off that team, is your team still good, are you still playoff contenders?
"All that adds into one. Obviously, you have to be winning. And you just have to be having an unbelievable year."
And Harden is having an unbelievable year, averaging a league-leading 11.2 assists along with 28.9 points (third) on a true shooting percentage of 61.9 as the "points guard" under coach Mike D'Antoni. He's also chipped in 7.9 rebounds, so while he's not registering a triple-double every night, he's pretty dang close.
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For OKC, Westbrook has registered an NBA-best 31.9 points on a true shooting percentage of 54.7 to go along with 10.1 dimes and 10.5 boards. The explosive point guard also leads the Association in usage rating (41.4), player impact estimate (22.6), and value over replacement player (9.7), not to mention he's been the most clutch player with an average of 5.9 points late in tight contests.
Harden's not far off in many of those categories, though, as he's fifth in usage (33.9), third in PIE (19.1), and second in VORP (7.3) while his Rockets have the third-best record in the NBA, thanks in large part to their elite offense. Houston also leads the regular-season series against the sixth-place Thunder 2-1, though each of those games were decided by a single possession.