James Harden vs. Russell Westbrook: Who is the real MVP?

             When Russell Westbrook and James Harden were last teammates, they were both young stars on the rise. James Harden was a fantastic bench scorer for the Oklahoma City Thunder and Russell Westbrook was coming off of his first trip to the NBA Finals as the starting point guard. No one, however, truly could have expected the results of the 2016-2017 season back then. Kevin Durant was the superstar of that Oklahoma City Thunder team and he was an amazing player and the no-doubt leader of that squad. Now, Durant and Harden have departed to lead their own separate squads (The Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, respectively) and OKC belongs to Russ. This time of year, NBA fans come together at the midway point to speculate: who is the MVP favorite? In our opinion, that belongs to one man (by a slim margin): James Harden  

The last time Harden was among the MVP favorites, Steph Curry took home the award and he lost by a slim margin. With Durant joining the Warriors, Curry's MVP chances have taken a huge dip and that opened the door for other people (such as Westbrook and Harden) to become the center of that conversation. With Harden's team currently at 31-9, per www.basketball-reference.com, and Westbrook's team at 23-16, we feel this is the decisive advantage that "The Beard" has in this conversation. Although one might think that due to Westbrook's slightly higher PER (Player Efficiency Rating) according to ESPN, we still feel that the similarity in supporting cast for Harden and Westbrook with a drastically different record should show why Harden is our MVP favorite. Still, however, no one should complain if either of these amazing players receive the award at the end of the NBA season. 

- JD and IS

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Photos received from thunderousintentions.com and inquirer.net