The NBA regular season ended over a month ago, and we still have over a month until the league's postseason awards will be handed out at the 2018 NBA Awards show on June 25. But to keep our appetites satiated, the NBA announced the finalists for each award on Wednesday.
Most consider Houston Rockets guard James Harden to be the prohibitive favorite to win this season's MVP Award, but he'll have some stiff competition. The other two finalists are Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James and New Orleans Pelicans big man Anthony Davis, both of whom had incredible seasons.
2017-18 NBA MVP finalists
Harden has been the MVP runner-up in two of the past three seasons, and many feel that his incredible season -- leading the league in scoring (30.4 points per game) while finishing third in assists (8.8 per game) on a Rockets team that finished with a league-high 65 wins -- will be enough to finally get him the hardware.
James had arguably the most complete offensive season of his 15-year career, averaging 27.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game while shooting 54 percent from the field and 37 percent from 3 during a tumultuous season for the Cavs.
Davis pulled off what many thought was a miracle, dragging the Pelicans to the No. 6 seed in the playoffs despite a season-ending injury to running-mate DeMarcus Cousins. The Brow was an absolute monster on both ends of the court, evidenced by the fact that he also finished in the top three of the Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Harden may end up winning the award, but this is as worthy of an MVP field as we've seen in recent memory.
