NBA MVP Contenders

MVP talk is heating up the NBA. Right now, the major contenders seem to be Kobe, LeBron, Paul and Garnett. Here's a quick breakdown:


Kobe: 27 points per game, six rebounds, five assists. Also records two steals a game while shooting 46% from the field. The Lakers are 50-24 and have recently slipped to third place in the Western Conference. Kobe's season started off a bit rocky, but with Bynum making the leap (almost out of nowhere), the Lakers started winning. A lot. Then Memphis handed them Gasol (Jerry West is part of the Grizzlies organization.... coincidence?) and pushed them over the top.


LeBron: 30 points per game, eight rebounds, seven assists. Also records two steals a game, one block, and shoots 48% from the field. Oh, and he's 22. The Cavs are 41-33, good for fourth in the Eastern Conference. LeBron plays alongside such All-Stars as Devin Brown, Daniel Gibson, Eric Snow, Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. No one other than LeBron scores more than 13 points per game.


Chris Paul: 21 points per game, four rebounds, 11 assists. Adds almost three steals a game, shoots 50% from the field. The Hornets are 50-22, tied for first place in the Western Conference. Paul leads the team in scoring as well as assists. David West is an up-and-coming forward, and Tyson Chandler has been transformed from a five points and 9 rebounds a night guy to a double-double average guy shooting 60% a night. Twenty-nine-year-old Peja Stojakovic has been reborn. Peja's scoring 16 points a game and hitting three 3-pointers a night(at a 45% clip). You can't discount Paul's influence here.


Garnett: 19 points per game, nine rebounds, four assists. He's shooting 54% from the field and 80% from the line. The Celtics are 58-15, owners of the best record in the NBA. KG plays alongside two All-Stars in Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, but he's the clear leader of the team. Garnett gives 110% every night and will until the day he retires. I think he may actually die of a heart attack on the court at the age of 55 before that day comes. His defense leads the Celtics, who give up a league-leading 90.2 points per game.


It's a tough decision. Each is playing on a contender for the NBA Championship, with the exception of LeBron, who is playing with a collection of players who are horrible, so I can't dock him much there. Each is putting up great numbers. Each is leading their team in a year where there are plenty of great teams.

I'm going to have to think it over for a couple of days before making my pick.