There is a raging debate on who should be the MVP of this season this year. As usual, there have been plenty of deserving candidates from across the league. Nikola Jokic is many people’s favorite, but there are obviously other candidates for the award. Everyone’s list is going to be different, and every fan has their biases.
A HoopsHype article has recently compiled a list of the top 15 MVP candidates, and they posted a tiered version of their rankings on Twitter as well. Tiers are usually a good way to rank candidates, as players are often neck and neck in the MVP race, and sometimes it is hard to separate them.
The state of the MVP Race right now, in our humble opinion. pic.twitter.com/DHbHyBF3pn
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) May 5, 2021
This list includes all the names that have been mentioned for the MVP race. HoopsHype elected to put Nikola Jokic on a tier of his own. That makes sense, as he is one of the people that has kept up his MVP level throughout the season, as well as dealing with a season-ending injury to his co-star.
Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo have had great seasons on their top-seeded teams, but they have both missed time with injury, so Tier 2 seems fair. Stephen Curry is by himself in his 3rd tier, as he has been transcendent, but his team is barely holding on to the 8th seed.
LeBron James might be slightly low for some considering his amazing start to the season, but he has had injury issues. It’s a surprise to not see Kevin Durant on an MVP list either, but he has missed a decent chunk of the season. Availability has been a factor to consider this year, as there have been plenty of injuries to high-usage players.
While not everyone may agree with this tier-list, it seems as though this is a fair ranking. Some players could perhaps be moved up or down a tier, but other than that, the list seems like a fair assessment of the MVP landscape in the NBA right now.
