Stephen Curry drives past Anthony Davis (Photo : Getty Images Sport)
Despite the season being two weeks old, some predictions are already crumbling.
One of the more popular yet daring predictions of the offseason was that of Anthony Davis winning the Most Valuable Player Award.
Davis has the unique package of size and skill that could propel him to become the game's best player and most pundits believed that this is the year the Unibrow will finally be unleashed.
Unfortunately, while the Most Valuable Player Award is given to individuals, part of the criteria is how far along a player brings his team. This was noted by ESPN Insider's Kevin Pelton.
"No player on a team with fewer than 54 wins has won MVP since Michael Jordan in 1987-88." The obvious exceptions were the lockout-shortened seasons, but for a standard 82-game season, 54 seems like the safe number.
With a 1-6 slate (Pelicans beat the Mavericks for their first season win), the team needs to go 53-24 the rest of the way. Pelton notes that the injuries to Davis' teammates and their being in the West make that very challenging.
The exception being Michael Jordan reinforces the notion. There is only one Michael Jordan and even though Davis could reach that talent level, there are so many other candidates who would exceed 54 wins.
Davis would have to be insanely impressive to get voters to ignore the other players' winning performances, foremost of which is Stephen Curry.
In Basketball Reference's MVP tracker, last season's winner is on his way to prove that his award was not a fluke. Leading the league in scoring, he has also brought the defending champion Golden State Warriors atop the NBA standings as the lone, undefeated team.
Some unfamiliar names in the Top 10 are Andre Drummond, Draymond Green, Paul Millsap and 2014 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard.
Interestingly, there are three teammate duos in the top 10: Warriors have Curry and Green, Thunder has Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant and the Cavaliers have LeBron James and Kevin Love.
