Why Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant Should Be NBA's MVP over LeBron James

The shortened 66-game NBA season has provided fans with much to talk about.  The Bulls, Heat, Thunder and Spurs sprinted out of the gate and haven’t shown signs of letting up anytime soon. The Lakers traded veteran Derek Fisher to the Thunder, Jeremy Lin became an overnight sensation and Dwight Howard stayed in Orlando.

However, as the season is almost over, the biggest story now is who will win the MVP award. It will most likely come down to Kevin Durant and LeBron James.

Durant has improved many of his stats this year. In his fifth NBA season, Durant is shooting a career-high 50 percent from the field. He is also posting career-highs in rebounds and assists with 8.0 and 3.5 per game, respectively.

Even though his shooting percentage is higher this year, he has taken 500 shots fewer than last year. Durant does not need to take as many shots now that he has some help on offense.

Russell Westbrook joined the Thunder in 2008 and has become a big scoring threat. Kendrick Perkins was traded from the Celtics to the young roster in February 2011. Longtime Lakers guard Fisher joined the roster a couple of weeks ago.

These players—along with James Harden, Thabo Sefolosha and Serge Ibaka—give the Thunder a dangerous roster for years to come, with Durant at the forefront.

Earlier in the season, Durant scored 51 points, his most points in a game, against the Nuggets while Westbrook scored 40 in the same game. Durant was voted to his third consecutive All-Star Game, where he scored 36 points and was awarded with his first All-Star Game MVP.

In his last 10 games, Durant scored at least 20 points, averaging 29 points per game in that span.

Kevin Durant has been one of the most consistent players in the NBA this season. When compared to the other top stars in the game, Durant is the only one to have played every game so far. Last year’s MVP, Derrick Rose, has only played in 36 of the Bulls’ 60 games. Even without Rose, the Bulls are still the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Can we say the same if the Thunder did not have Durant for that amount of time?

Not only has Durant been healthy, he’s also been clutch. According to 82games.com, clutch time is defined as the fourth quarter or overtime, less than five minutes left and neither team ahead by more than five points.

Durant is far superior to LeBron James during clutch time.

The Thunder are 15-9 with Durant on the floor, while the Heat are 10-8 with James on the court in those situations. Individually, Durant shoots 41.1 percent in clutch situations and only 1 percent of his shots blocked, whereas James only shoots 38.6 percent and 7 percent of his clutch shots blocked.

Durant is not just a superstar on the court, he is also a role model off the court as well. Durant is involved with many charities, including the Washington D.C branch of P’Tones Records, a nationwide non-profit after school music program.

Also, Durant is very rarely at the head of any controversy. The NBA would benefit from having a charitable and respectable player like Durant as its MVP.