2012 NBA MVP Watch: Will Kevin Durant Catch LeBron James?

You thought it was too early to begin ranking the MVP candidates? Think again!

The NBA has become so obsessed with statistics and rankings that we had to follow in suit with a top 10 of our own listing the top 10 candidates for the award at the moment. Take note that this list reflects these players' showings throughout the season and this past week, which greatly affects the rankings as well.

In order to win the MVP award in the NBA, you need to be recognized as the best player on the best team. In certain cases, the league MVP could be on one of the better teams rather than the NBA's best team overall. It all depends on the balance of certain teams and the statistics of that individual.

With that in mind, let's see who's among the 10 players that are in MVP contention as well as the player who's been by and far the best player in the NBA at this point.

10. Dwyane Wade

Chris Bosh's time as a possible MVP candidate is up.

Dwyane Wade can now assume the spot he once occupied in the bottom half of the top 10 and far off of the pace of his two-time MVP teammate.

Sadly, Wade isn't winning the MVP. As much as we would enjoy giving Wade a lifetime achievement award, a la Kobe Bryant in 2008, he's definitely not going to get anywhere near it with a particular teammate of his having the best year of a Hall of Fame career. Dwyane's been playing great since coming back from an ankle injury, but that teammate of his is on a completely other level.

Since returning on January 27th, Wade has recorded at least 22 points in all but one of six games he has played. The lone game below that threshold was a 15-point, 4-of-15 shooting effort against a Chicago Bulls team that has arguably the league's stingiest defense. It was only the second game since returning, so maybe it's best to let that one slide.

Over the past three games, we've been witnessing the usual Dwyane Wade. He had 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists in a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, 26 points, five rebounds and four assists in a 20-point victory over the Philadelphia 76ers and capped off the week with a 25-point, three-assist and two-rebound contribution in a win over the Toronto Raptors.

If not for injuries drastically impeding his progression this season, Wade could be a lot higher. The fact that he has dealt with a foot and ankle injury that has taken him out of a few games, however, have greatly thrown him off as he finds himself averaging far less than what he has become accustomed to posting up each game.

Wade's averaging 21 points, five assists and four boards per, while aiding the Heat to one of their best starts in franchise history at 18-6.

9. LaMarcus Aldridge

I know Portland is way over there in the exotic land of Oregon, but I think it's becoming that time to start recognizing that Trail Blazers power forward LaMarcus Aldridge is really good.

Put some emphasis on the "really." Aldridge has played outstanding in the midst of his franchise losing Brandon Roy to retirement and Greg Oden for possibly another season after reporting that he was going to need more surgery in order to repair his knee.

Portland shouldn't be 14-10. Paul Allen and the rest of that franchise should be throwing rose petal's wherever Aldridge walks because he has been their savior over the past two years. Once Roy began having nagging injuries to his knee last year, Aldridge stepped up in his place and has lived up to the hype of being a No. 2 pick.

Aldridge picked up right where he left off last season, averaging 23 points, nine boards and three assists per, and becoming arguably the top power forward in the NBA. Besides shooting from beyond the arc, LaMarcus can do it all on both ends of the floor. He's got a jump shot that can go as far out as 20 feet, can post up and put the ball on the floor to drive.

On defense, he's a solid individual and post defender that's quick and strong enough to keep up with any type of forward.

Aldridge is stirring up the pot in the MVP race and has only added to his case with his past three games. He scored 22 against Charlotte in a 44-point win, recorded 28 points and 14 rebounds in a loss to Sacramento and concluded the week with a 29-point effort against Denver where he shot 13-of-18 from the field.

Being 14-10 is disappointing, but can you ask for much more from a team with a 37-year-old and a 39-year-old as its two main players utilized at center?

8. Chris Paul

Chris Paul is in the top 10 by the skin of his teeth after a downhill slope of a week.

He started it off well with a tremendous 34 points, 15-of-24 shooting, 11 assists, five boards and three steals in a two-point win over the Utah Jazz. Paul then played an average game with only 15 points and nine assists in a blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets. Paul then concluded the week with an embarrassing two points, 1-of-9 shooting and seven assists in a win against Washington.

Sure the Clippers beat the Wizards by 26 points, but I can't think of the last MVP that scored two points in 28 minutes against the worst team in the NBA. If you want to become the league MVP, you're going to achieve above-average basketball in every single game of the year. There isn't any time for off nights, even if your team does win by a large margin.

Despite the awful game against the Wizards, Paul is still playing like the Paul we knew him as in New Orleans. Nothing has changed but the quality of the roster surrounding him. The team currently stands at 14-7 with new additions like Paul, Chauncey Billups and Caron Butler offering so much more to the team than their predecessors in Baron Davis, Eric Gordon and Ryan Gomes.

Well, you don't get the scoring of Gordon, but that's easy to replace when you have a point guard like CP3 leading the way. He's averaging 18 points, nine assists, three boards and two steals per through the first 16 games of his tenure with the Clippers. "Lob City" hasn't been what we expected it to be, but you can't argue with wins.

Paul's been his usual efficient self on both sides of the ball. He's still making it extremely difficult for defenders thanks in part to his long-range shooting and his ability to drive, and he's making it equally difficult for whoever has the unfortunate circumstances of being matched up with him on offense due to his quick hands and excellent basketball IQ.

CP3 still has a chance, but he can't be scoring two points in 28 minutes again.

7. Tony Parker

Remember the San Antonio Spurs? You may not have with so much talk being centered around the struggles of the New York Knicks, the possibility of Dwight Howard getting traded or the success of the Miami Heat, but the Spurs are still relevant and are somehow at the top of the Southwest Division with a 16-9 record.

Not impressive for the Spurs standards? Take note that they're playing without Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan, who is playing without knees, and Richard Jefferson as their third-best scorer. With a roster composed of a number of young players in DeJuan Blair, Gary Neal and Danny Green, it's certainly bewildering to wonder just how the Spurs are able to play this well through such adversity.

Look no further than everybody's favorite Frenchman: Tony Parker. He hasn't been receiving too much publicity and attention in San Antonio, like every other year, but he's getting the job done and is not just keeping this team afloat, but in contention for a possible No. 1 seed. The 29-year-old hasn't been hearing too much MVP talk this year, but he deserves it after the week he's had.

After scoring a combined 14 points in the two games leading up this week, Parker let out an onslaught of offense against the unfortunate likes of Houston, New Orleans and Oklahoma City. The point guard recorded 24 points and four assists against the Rockets and 18 points, seven boards and five assists against the Hornets, but it was his stellar showing against the Thunder that got a few eyebrows to rise.

Matched up against one of the NBA's most athletic guards in Russell Westbrook, Parker scored 42 points on 16-of-29 shooting. He missed both of his three-point attempts and went 10-of-12 from the line. Perhaps even more impressive than the 42 points was the fact that he also dished out nine assists and committed a grand total of zero turnovers in nearly 40 minutes worth of action.

Also, the Spurs won all three of those games pretty easily.

The chances are highly unlikely that Parker does end up winning the MVP, but he certainly deserves the consideration after the impressive week he has had.

6. Kevin Love

I'm not a part of the NBA's PR department, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that stepping on another player's face isn't helping your chances of winning your very first MVP award.

In fact, I'd say it was the complete opposite. In case you haven't heard about it, Kevin Love stepped on the face of Houston Rockets forward Luis Scola and was reprimanded with a suspension lasting two games. We've become accustomed to dirty play to get the inside advantage, but this is just ridiculous, especially from a player like Love who was believed to have one of the cleaner images.

But face stomping aside, Love had another pretty good week. He recorded 21 points and 17 rebounds against Indiana, 20 points and 10 rebounds against New Jersey and 25 points and 18 boards against Houston. The fourth-year forward out of UCLA has continued putting on a show this season and is averaging 25 points, 14 rebounds and two assists per.

His three-point shooting has been solid once again as well. Proving last year was no fluke, Love is converting two three-pointers per game at a 38 percent clip.

While the stats are nice and everything, it's the Minnesota Timberwolves record through the first quarter of the season that is truly turning heads. Despite not having Michael Beasley for the majority of the year, Love has led the Wolves to a 12-12 record and are one-and-a-half games out of the final playoff spot in the West.

The Wolves are only five victories away from matching last year's entire win total. Thanks in part to Love, and the court vision of Ricky Rubio, the Wolves are off and running to a possible postseason spot if they can continue playing the basketball they've been playing throughout the year.

However, the next two games will be tough without their leading scorer and rebounder.

5. Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard has been a well-oiled machine all year long.

He's currently averaging 20 points, a league-leading 15 rebounds and two blocks per in his eighth NBA season and has continued to assert his authority as the league's top big man. He continued to show why this past week with 23 points and 18 rebounds against Washington, 19 points, 16 rebounds and eight blocks against Cleveland and 27 points and eight boards against a tough Indiana team.

All three games were wins. It's just disappointing that those three wins followed up four consecutive losses. Don't blame Dwight for those losses either, he was playing at his usual effective rate with double-digit rebounds and at least 16 points in all four games.

The glaring problem was Howard's free-throw shooting where he continued to embark on possibly having the worst free-throw shooting percentage in a season. Currently shooting 49 percent from the line, Howard shot 4-of-15 and 5-of-13 in consecutive losses. He shot 59 percent or worse during those four losses with at least eight free-throws attempts in each game.

Howard's always been a relatively inept free-throw shooter, but this year is awful on astronomical levels. He shot 59 percent from the free-throw line for the past six seasons and even shot 67 percent in his rookie season. This year has been ridiculous for Howard as he can't seem to nail that dreaded 10-foot shot that has plagued his career.

Dwight should be winning MVPs left and right and the Orlando Magic should be championship contenders in a perfect world. Unfortunately, they live on earth and nothing is perfect there. Howard is getting 13 shot attempts per game, which is still entirely too little, while his team is currently averaging 24 three-point attempts per.

They're fourth in three-point percentage, but it hasn't translated towards too much success as the Magic find themselves at 15-9 and attempting to make some noise in a crowded Eastern Conference.

4. Kobe Bryant

As I write this, Kobe Bryant has 24 points with 1:39 left in the second quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers.

That's more points than a lot of NBA players will score in a season, and it's certainly more than what some of the NBA's top young stars will score in an entire game. Bryant scoring 24 points in one half against a well-coached and defensive-minded team like the Sixers only goes on to prove just how deadly the "Black Mamba" truly is.

If Kobe had any other NBA players' mentality, he wouldn't even be playing. He's 33 years old with a bad finger on his shooting hand and a few torn ligaments in his wrist, which was an injury that occurred a week prior to the start of the regular season. Most players would have taken the surgery and called it a day, but Bryant decided to play through the pain.

How'd he respond? Well, he's leading the league in scoring at 29 points per and will probably see that total increase once the night ends, so I wouldn't say that the wrist or the finger injuries on the arm that he uses to shoot with have affected him too much. In fact, it's quite the opposite as Bryant's 29 points per game is the most he's posted up since the 2006-07 season.

It's simply mind-boggling to construct an idea on how Bryant is playing this well and garnering so many minutes at the age of 33 and with torn ligaments in his wrist. He's posting up the same numbers that the 28-year-old Kobe would have put up and is playing like him too. His athleticism may not be as prevalent, but the competitive drive to score and win games is as obvious to see as ever before.

In the past three games over the week, Bryant has scored at least 20 points and tied a season high in assists at nine in a huge win at Denver. However, he shot 43 percent or less in the past three contests and has shot 38 percent or worse in the past two games, one being a win and the other a loss.

There's not much else you can ask from a 33-year-old who only has two other players on his team that can score. The 14-10 record is weighing him down at the moment, but the fact that he's 33 and playing with an injury that should have sidelined him for at least a month is an accomplishment that only Kobe Bryant would be able to complete.

3. Derrick Rose

Back-to-back games of 13 assists with a subpar effort against the Philadelphia 76ers mixed in, Derrick Rose once again finds himself in serious contention for taking home a second consecutive MVP.

If Rose were to win it, he'd be the youngest player in NBA history to win back-to-back MVP awards.

So far, it doesn't appear that Rose stands much of a chance with LeBron James in Miami and Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City slugging it out, but that doesn't give any clearance to proclaim that the Bulls point guard is out of the running. After a slow start to the year, Rose has been raising his statistics daily and has them near last year's level.

On a 20-6 team that currently possesses the NBA's top record, Rose is averaging 24 points, eight assists and four boards per. His assists per is higher than last year's output and his turnovers per is lower. The only downside on his stats thus far has been his point total which has suffered on account of Rose dealing with a few injuries near the start of the season.

Rose is as dynamic and athletic as ever when it comes to finishing around the basket, but his jump shot has actually appeared to drop off even more than last year. He's converting on nearly two three-pointers per game at a disappointing 32 percent clip.

The five three-pointers per game and the low average are a clear indication that Rose either needs to keep driving or at least learn to pick and choose his shots better.

It's surprising to see so many people begin to discredit Rose from taking home a second consecutive MVP. Possibly due to his weak play in the Eastern Conference Finals where he shot 35 percent in a series where his team lost in five games, Rose hasn't been the media darling that the mainstream perpetuated him to be this year.

With the league's top record at the moment and stats equivalent to last year's, Rose would have an MVP award within his grasp at the end of the season if not for the tremendous improvement and play by the top two players.

2. Kevin Durant

This was supposed to be Kevin Durant's year.

The 2011-12 season was meant to be the year of the "Durantula." Not only were his Oklahoma City Thunder supposed to rise out of the ashes from last year's Western Conference Finals loss and gain redemption with a trip to the NBA Finals, but it was also meant to be the year that he'd take home his first league MVP.

After all, if a 22-year-old Derrick Rose could win it last year, what's stopping a 23-year-old Durant from taking it? The NBA has become a young man's league over the decade with the likes of Rose, Durant and even teammate Russell Westbrook becoming prominent elite figures in the NBA despite playing in five seasons or less.

Durant has earned his spot at second in the MVP race. He's got his Thunder at 18-5, currently first in a tough Western Conference, and is averaging 27 points per game on a career-high 51 percent from the field to go along with career high's in rebounds per at eight and assists per at three. He's even blocking two shots per game for the first time in his career.

Kevin is a little more than three points per off of possibly securing a third consecutive scoring title, but James Harden's tremendous involvement in the offense has taken some of the scoring load off of Durant. Even if he isn't currently leading the league in scoring, Durant is still one of the league's most feared scorers and is a threat inside as well as from outside.

He's certainly at an MVP pace, but it's going to take so much more to best the current leader in the MVP race. Leading the Thunder to the best record at the end of the season may not even be enough when considering what type of player he's attempting to win it against.

1. LeBron James

If you have any argument as to why LeBron James isn't the league MVP, then let's hear it.

Hate him or love, he's on top. Twenty-two games in and the Miami Heat small forward has been the league's MVP and it honestly hasn't been that close. Even though Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose have had stellar individual seasons and are leading their teams to the top of the conferences, they cannot be considered a possible threat to James winning the MVP for a third time in four years.

James has simply been too much. The only thing that has held him down this year was his free-throw shooting in a three-game stretch of losses. The usual reliable free-throw shooter, James surprised us all with a 9-for-17 display from the line in a six-point loss to the Los Angeles Clippers and a 6-for-11 showing in a loss two nights later at Denver.

Aside from those two games, James has been playing out of his mind and has truly become the player that the Miami Heat envisioned him to be when they traded for him in the summer of 2010. With or without Dwyane Wade in the lineup, James has been the clear leader of the Heat and it's resulted in an 18-6 start and a spot at the top of the Southeast Division.

James is currently averaging 29 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals per. Amazing stats across the board for LeBron, but it's that 55 percent shooting from the field that is by far the most impressive stat of all. He's made it a purpose to attack the rim at will and has followed through, thus explaining the shooting percentage of your average center.

With a new and improved post game, James scoring repertoire has become all the more lethal. He can back down any opponent with ease, is smart enough of a player to recognize where the basket is and is as deadly with his back to the basket as he is with his front. His overall improvement playing with his back to the basket has greatly aided not only himself, but his team as a whole.

James is drawing constant double-teams in the post and is a good enough passer to usually find the open man. Now that he a post game, there's no true way of stopping him as he can still drive, hit from the mid-range and hit from beyond the perimeter if he happens to be feeling it that night, which he has many times if you couldn't tell by the 42 percent shooting from deep.

The MVP is given to the best player on the best team. The Heat are a game out of the spot for the NBA's top record, but the award would still go to James even if his team does finish a few games behind teams like the Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder. James has been too good to start the season and will be the MVP barring a drastic injury that keeps him out a significant amount of time.

*Knocks on wood*