Race for NBA MVP. Three main words in world basketball – Embiid, Antetokounmpo and Jokic

I tried to make the usual top ten, despair had already reached the point that I was thinking about canceling several of my own rules. Here they are , by the way.

Why, there’s a dozen, five scraped together with great difficulty. It’s hard to come up with some long lists for the spring, when there are only three real contenders for the MVP, and when we got the strangest season of all.

Most of yesterday’s candidates found themselves in a strange state. Ja Morant self-incinerated, albeit temporarily, but so brightly that the title of the most valuable player can now be given to him only in a completely different place. In the NBA, he will not qualify for the main award not only this year (obviously), but also next (behind the scenes).

Many have fallen victim to injuries and rampant load management. Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Zion Williamson (remember that one?), Kawhi Leonard, and even Anthony Davis could seem like the best players in the league for certain and long enough stretches, and Durant managed to create such an impression on two teams at once. Basketball balding charlatan! I’m sure Devin Booker can also be attributed here. But they missed too much to really claim something.

Jimmy Butler still cosplays his famous namesake and tells the regular part of the season that, like, my dear, well, I just don’t give a damn and don’t give a damn. Donovan Mitchell could have been on the list, but at some point his progress slowed down too much.

Damian Lillard from a basketball player before our eyes began to turn into a self-proclaimed sage, able to cleanse the entire league of dirt – both spiritual and material. Lillard believes that he is a guide to the blind and a light to those who are lost in the darkness. Watching this rebirth is very exciting, especially if you do not root for Portland. At some point, it even seemed that Lillard was capable of miracles, but these miracles turned out to be limited and did not affect anything in the end.

(how glad I am that I don’t have to argue why LeBron James is not on the list. No gloating, just the sincere joy of an author seeking to reduce the number of printed characters)

Shay Gilges-Alexander has lost one match more than he won, there are still plenty of flaws in his game, although we are all crazy about him, as it should be. With an inattentive and preferably enthusiastic look, it may begin to double in the eyes and it may seem that between the letters M and P there is a letter with two oblique sticks, and not with one straight line. I cannot condemn this.

Perhaps that’s all. Anthony Edwards can only be noted for uninterrupted power generation, studying the leaders of the Knicks seems to be the work of specialists of a very narrow profile, Tyrese Halliburton was created to be touched by them, and not to give him any real prizes. In October-November, I was ready to manually move forward the composition called “Pascal Siakam is better than you think”, but rather quickly got tired of this senseless work, especially since Siakam himself began to rest with his feet. And certainly the middle of March is not the time when you should pay serious attention to the second stars of the teams, Jaylen Brown, James Harden, Bam Adebayo and Jeremy Sohan just need to accept it.