Why LeBron James Will Run Away with This Year's MVP Award

Love him or hate him, LeBron James has a stranglehold on the MVP race. Barring some major stint by the other front-runners, no one in his or her right mind—no matter how devout a critic, including myself—would deny that Maurice Podoloff Trophy No. 3 is just over two months away for the boy wonder.

Indeed, my set of values in the world of sports has led me to the point where my primary raison-d'être as an NBA fan is to see LeBron James and the Miami Heat denied as many further bragging rights as possible. The path they're taking is nothing to brag about, and their current level of braggadocio is beyond bearable as is.

However, I am not an idiot, nor do I practice the popular art of denial. To look at the season thus far—and how it's likely to continue— and say with a straight face that LeBron is not having a runaway MVP year would be an insult to my own intelligence.

There are four general factors at play here; together they form a perfect storm that makes it impossible to imagine any other outcome to the MVP race, no matter how badly I'd like to. I don't have to like what's coming, but you can't let your preferences warp your reality either, can you?

1. The Golden Rule of MVP Voting

We all know the rule.

The best player on the best team usually gets the nod. LeBron knows this; it's the reason he's currently two up on Dwyane Wade in MVP trophies, as opposed to tied.

It's often the deciding factor when it comes to putting one candidate over the rest (read: Derrick Rose, Dirk Nowitzki and as far back as you like) and this season it'll just be another reason on top of countless others why LeBron wins the Podoloff.

Obviously, this glosses over the fact that the requisite "best man on best team" label is accompanied by some league-leading numbers. Somehow I don't see this being an obstacle in LeBron's case.

Though it sometimes skews voting unfairly away from more deserving candidates (which I call the Jason Kidd phenomenon), it's not like anyone will be second-guessing the outcome when Heat fans raise the roof for the first MVP trophy presentation in franchise history.

There is no reason whatsoever for this season to produce any exceptions to this rule, as the best player on the best team—yes, I'm predicting, boldly as can be, that Miami finishes with the best record—is already the MVP by all accounts anyway.

Meanwhile, if any kinks appear in other areas of LeBron's case by season's end, this rule is his insurance policy.

2. Candidate for Best Season Ever

LeBron's stats would be amazing to behold if only they weren't so darn typical of the guy after eight years in the league. In a way, he's a victim of his own dominance because anybody else putting up these numbers would be a historic discussion piece.

He's the most statistically complete player since Oscar Robertson, and the kind of number he puts up would have him in the conversation even on a losing team (which I call the D-Wade phenomenon).

In general, astronomic numbers are perfectly in line with the LBJ we all know. This can leave people slightly nonplussed at his ridiculous ball-playing because he's essentially just maintaining his stratospheric level of performance. However, before you trivialize LeBron's statistical gaudiness as deja vu, bear in mind that by most measures, he's currently playing like the single-season Most Valuable Player ever.

He's third in the NBA in scoring, five combined assists and rebounds from a triple-double average and, more importantly, he's currently putting up the highest single-season PER in NBA history thanks to his yet improving field-goal percentage. It's been steadily increasing—although his assists have been counterintuitively decreasing—since the Miami cruise started, and he's now almost halfway to 60 percent.

Look, I can't stand the guy's attitude, but that doesn't change the fact—as in the opposite of opinion—that he's making some pretty big all-time waves this year.

3. Few Other Compelling Options

Combining with LeBron and the Heat's generally unbridled success to make the MVP all but a done deal is the fact that nobody else behind Kevin Durant really has a compelling case to challenge LBJ for the award.

You can't have a No. 1 without No. 2, No. 3 and so on, which is where guys like Durant, Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard come in. There has to be someone on the podium, but don't think that means it's not a one-man race.

Rose has been equal parts MVP, sidelined, or less-than-100 percent thus far, and even though the Bulls are still an elite team—and Rose still a super-elite player—the luster just isn't the same this season.

As far as Kobe, he's scoring like a madman, but look at where his team is. His problem this year is largely the same one he had in '06 and '07: personal brilliance amid unremarkable team results.

In terms of Howard, we all know what an all-NBA mainstay he is, but his only real edge over LeBron—not to mention the rest of the galaxy—is rebounding and defense. Between overall efficiency and team success, Howard's not about to knock off James.

All in all, if you're talking exclusively on paper, LeBron actually is the undisputed king this year. The real race is for runner-up.

4. Key Advantages over Kevin Durant

The jury is still out on who the sidekick really is in Miami—if there is one. However, insofar as Wade is a bridesmaid in LeBron's hunt for the MVP (which I believe he is) as a running mate, he helps LeBron's case a lot more than Russell Westbrook does Kevin Durant's.

LeBron, more than KD, has a teammate that plays off him more often than away from him. This in turn promotes a smoother running unit on the floor and can only make LeBron look better in the process.

As nice as Durant is—he is, after all, an MVP candidate—there are these one-on-one sessions that start to go down, initiated by Westbrook, that take some of the luster out of the former's all-world scoring ability.

Though thankfully this doesn't manifest in the loss column (as of yet) in a head-to-head comparison with LBJ, it counts for something. The things he and Wade do on most nights makes you downright sad for the rest of the league, because the Big Two is so loose playing together.

In as much as Kevin Durant is LeBron James' chief competition in the MVP race, I give LBJ the advantage if only based on this aspect. There's also the matter of LeBron's defensive edge and, of course, team record.

All Durant can really claim over LeBron is effort, which is overrated in Miami, where talent overload does all the heavy lifting, and the idea of having to overcome in-game adversity is just plain blasphemy. The last time I checked, however, a moral advantage is no match for overwhelming empirical results when it comes to electing an MVP.