Scott Brooks: James Harden Would Get MVP Vote, LeBron James in Conversation

Washington Wizards head coach Scott Brooks told reporters he would vote for James Harden as the NBA's MVP if he had a vote but added that LeBron James is certainly a close second, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com:

"[Harden's] definitely an MVP this year. He's played well on the team that's playing the best in basketball, but you can always argue LeBron can get it every year. Like Michael Jordan should have had 12 of them. LeBron's the same type of player. He's having probably a better year than he had before, however many years he had.

"But [Harden] is deserving. He put in a lot of work. He's gotten better every year. Sometimes, it's hard to do that when you're at a high level. He's been at an MVP level for the last three years or so. Every year, he's come back and played better. Like all MVPs, it's about impact and winning."

Statistically, it's hard to draw a huge distinction between the two players. Harden leads the NBA in scoring (30.6 PPG) and is third in assists (8.8 APG). James is third in scoring (27.4 PPG), second in assists (9.1 APG) and tied for 14th in rebounding (8.7 RPG).

The deciding factor, fair or not, may come down to the records of their respective teams. The Houston Rockets are currently 62-15, the best record in the NBA. The Cleveland Cavaliers, meanwhile, are a more modest 47-30, currently good for the third-best record in the Eastern Conference.

It isn't surprising that Brooks would choose Harden. He coached him on the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier in Harden's career, after all. And Kevin Durant, Harden's former teammate in OKC, also thinks the dynamic Rockets guard is the deserving MVP.

"I mean [LeBron] is definitely playing great ball, but I just think that [Harden] has had a way better year," he told Sam Amick of USA Today when asked who he would pick for MVP.

Durant's teammate in Golden State, Steph Curry, is also siding with Harden, as he told Bill Reiter of CBSSports.com:

"Every year there's storylines that you can kinda gravitate towards in the MVP race and whatnot. And obviously this year you got James [Harden] who's been leading the charge all year, you got that Houston team playing at a high level, and he's taken his game to another level, so it's been fun I guess to watch the teams play against him. I think he's the leader in the clubhouse when it comes to the vote.

"But you got Anthony Davis, LeBron's been playing amazing, if injuries could be taken off there's guys on our team that are playing well too."

As for James, well, he'd pick himself.

"I would vote for me," he told Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press last week. "The body of work, how I'm doing it, what's been happening with our team all year long, how we've got so many injuries and things of that nature, guys in and out, to be able to still keep this thing afloat, I definitely would vote me."