Westbrook vs. Harden, Who Wins MVP?

Case for the Brodie:

For this year's NBA Regular season MVP race, it's as close as ever. It seems like at this point in the season, with only four games remaining on team's schedules, Russell Westbrook and James Harden have separated themselves from the pack. Westbrook seems eager to play with a certain all-out mentality every night out in his first season without Kevin Durant by his side. While Durant and his new team Golden State Warriors sit atop the Western conference in first place, Westbrook is doing everything he can to will his team into the playoffs for a chance at a deep postseason push. When it is all said and done, Westbrook is likely going to finish the regular season averaging a triple double and is just one game shy of passing Oscar Robertson's record of triple doubles in a single season with 41. He's on a team solely designed for Westbrook to be the focal point of the offense. He is on a team where 7-foot-1 Turkish center Enes Kanter is the team's next best scoring option, and occasionally Indiana standout Victor Oladipo who only sometimes decides when he wants to show up offensively. If we're talking sheer value to a team, I know awarding the Most Valuable Player award to a player on the twelfth best team in the league, but without Russell's performance this year, Oklahoma City and general manager Sam Presti would be looking where they'll land in this year's lottery pick in the NBA Draft. 

Case for The Beard:

Shifting gears to other MVP finalist James Harden, there really is no case to be made for why Harden shouldn't be the MVP of the league. Both of these players have very similar cases: they've had incredible box scores on for the majority very good teams, and they've both been fantastic this season. If you're basing this voting on which player has a better team, you'll tend to want to vote for Harden, since it seems Oklahoma City will have at least ten fewer wins when the regular season wraps up. Now if we're talking records here, are we solely taking into account Wesbrook vs. Harden? Or are we looking past that, giving reason that Houston has more weapons surrounded around The Beard, hence the better record at the end of the season? When it comes to Harden, you're talking about a guy putting up nearly just as good stats on the year, and like mentioned previously, is on a much better basketball team. 

And the winner is... 

What this MVP race really comes down to is personal preference for voters and fans. At this point, it's apples to oranges, are fans in awe over Westbrook's historic season filled with triple doubles, or are they looking at a team's overall success, with Houston a mere ten games better than Oklahoma City? I think Wesbtrook's season is too impressive to overlook. Westbrook would and should feel robbed and unappreciated if his resiliant nightly efforts weren't rewarded at the end of the season with his first Most Valuable Player award. 

James Harden vs. Russell Westbrook: Triple-Doubles and the MVP. 2016. James Harden vs. Russell Westbrook: Triple-Doubles and the MVP. Web. 5 Apr. 2017.