With each team in the NBA having no more than 25 games left on their schedule, we have hit the home-stretch of the 2021-22 season.
The All-Star break will prove useful for many teams to rest up and get ready to make their playoff push, but it will also be a time for many players to cement their position in the league’s award races.
From Sixth-Man of the Year, to Most Improved Player, to Defensive Player of the Year, to even the league’s Most Valuable Player award, there is still a lot of time for players around the league to make a move for each award.
Former league MVPs in Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry established themselves as the favorites for the award during the first-half of the season, but Durant’s MCL sprain has caused him to slip in the MVP rankings, as well as the Nets in the Eastern Conference standings.
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As for Curry, the Warriors are still a top team in the league, but he has been very unpredictable offensively this season and has hit some “funks” at times, causing his overall odds to drop. Does either Curry or Durant still have a chance to win the MVP award this season?
Just 7.0 games separate the 1-seed in the Eastern Conference from the 8-seed and in the Western Conference, there are plenty of key storylines being made by some of the best talents in the league.
Each award race could very well go down to the final few games of the regular season, so let’s take a look at the top candidates for each award at the All-Star break.