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In basketball, individual talent and ability is often a fickle, volatile temptress; success therefore is entirely ephemeral and unpredictable.Every so often, a player reaches truly reaches their potential and their performance hits its acme, leading to some truly incredible play.The first thing that should be understood is that being the best player in the league and being the MVP are not the same. The MVP is based more on team success and performance in a single year rather than continual, efficient production.The best player in the League, can be understood as someone who has the ability to take over a game and truly exert himself like no one else, we’ve seen it with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Irving 'Magic' Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan for a while, but since the turn of the millenium, no one has truly emerged as the unarguable best player other than Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, each for short periods of time, before the torch was passed.Let's look at the candidates for best player:(L-R) LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Stephen Curry
#1 The almost-theres and why
Those in contention for best player are part of an exclusive list to say the least. Many players have some relly stong skills that make them All-Stars and their team’s leader, but despite this don’t make the cut into this list.
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant: Neither of them has been able to really emerge as the ‘Best Player‘ on the thunder itself, so the ‘Best Player‘ would be quite a large jump. Further, after being injury-ridden and not even making the Playoffs last year, they are definitely not players who can at this moment be considered for the list.
James Harden lacks in consistency and is virtually non-existent on defense, although he has improved considerably.Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are similar to the Oklahoma City duo, as they are both great players, but neither of them really stands out in their own team and with a lack of playoff success, neither of them could be the ‘Best Player‘.
#2 Stephen Curry
Stephen Curry appears to be toying with the rest of the league right now. In 233 minutes played over the opening seven games, Curry has scored a whopping 237 points at a >40 PER, something that has not come close to being matched.
For some context, John Hollinger, sports analyst and creator of the PER, describes a score of 35 as a ‘Year for the Ages‘, so Curry is clearly on another level. He’s the best player on the best team, and the MVP of the League.
So why isn’t he the best player?
The answer isn’t really clear, but most associate it with how Curry stems away from some key traditional measures of supremacy, which are the ability to dominate people physically, and maintain a strong inside prescence.
Nevertheless, Curry’s domination of the league and redefinition of a whole position cannot be overstated and he truly should be in the consideration for best player.
#3 Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis is 22 and he’s a 2-time All-Star and Blocks Leader, NBA First-Team Selection and NCAA Champion.
Davis is definitely one of the league’s best talents and it’s still early, so he’s nowhere near his ceiling. While he may be one of the greatest players in the Association without real team success, Davis cannot be definitively judged as the League’s Best Player.
Nonetheless, any list would be incomplete without Davis, considering his individual production and his incredibly high PER and efficiency.
#4 LeBron James
LeBron James is widely acclaimed as the best player, and while it may have been indisputable a few years ago, today it seems such an assertion doesn’t seem as valid.
James is on the decline, both in terms of efficiency and production. Growing older, it has been a challenge for him to dominate like he did back in South Beach.
Although he is still an absolute beast, James is not the player and ‘freak of nature‘ that he once was. Last year, James earned the worst PER since his sophomore year and he might never make it back to the level.
Still, it would be unwise to put THE LeBron James out of contention.
#5 The Verdict
Well, there really isn’t an indisputable ‘Best Player‘ at this current juncture. While I’d have to go with Stephen Curry, right now, LeBron and Davis are on his tail and there are many close behind.
However, in this league, the only constant is change and one can expect the frontrunners to change immediately.
