With LeBron James struggling to adjust with his new teammates and Kevin Durant missing so many games, this season's MVP race is the most wide open in years.
Using Player Efficiency Rating (PER, avg=15.00), Win Shares, and Wins Above Replacement (WAR), as well as team performance, we ranked the top players who can make a case for the MVP award so far.
After eight weeks, James Harden, Stephen Curry, and Anthony Davis are the favorites. But there are eight other players who can still crash the party.
1. Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
Team Record (rank in conference): 14-13 (8)
PER (rank): 33.50 (1)
Win Shares (rank): 5.6 (1)
Wins Above Replacement (rank): 4.51 (6)
One thing to know: Anthony Davis may be the best player in the NBA right now. He is third in scoring (24.7 ppg), top in blocks (2.92 bpg), 11th in rebounds (10.2 rpg) and leads the NBA in several advanced metrics including PER and Win Shares. But his team is a borderline playoff team, and despite all his dominance on defense, the Pelicans are giving up 102.4 points per game, more than 22 teams in the NBA.
2. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
Team Record (rank in conference): 22-3 (1)
PER (rank): 26.92 (5)
Win Shares (rank): 4.9 (4)
Wins Above Replacement (rank): 5.76 (1)
One thing to know: Stephen Curry is averaging 23.5 points per game (6th in the NBA) despite playing just 33.7 minutes per game. Among the top 15 scorers in the NBA, only Dwyane Wade players fewer minutes per game (32.7).
3. James Harden, Houston Rockets
Team Record (rank in conference): 20-7 (1)
PER (rank): 25.04 (9)
Win Shares (rank): 5.1 (3)
Wins Above Replacement (rank): 5.07 (3)
One thing to know: James Harden is leading the NBA with a career-high 27.0 points per game. He is also averaging a career-high 6.2 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game. But most importantly, Harden is suddenly a good defender, averaging 2.0 steals per game. In the history of the NBA, only Michael Jordan and LeBron James have averaged 26 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals per game over an entire season.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider