2019 NBA MVP candidates

After finishing as the runner-up twice in three years, and being voted among the top ten for each of his first five years in Houston, James Harden finally took home his first MVP award in 2018. Harden was the clear choice to win the award after a season in which he grew as a leader, defender, winner and overall teammate while also elevating his offensive game to levels we have never seen in the NBA. His 60-point triple-double on January 30 was the first and remains the only such stat line in NBA history.

Harden's incredible 30.4 points and 8.8 assists per game left no doubt that he was the worthy MVP winner, but elite stats and polarizing performances are only part of winning the award. Team success, public opinion, and overall narrative all matter equally.

While not everyone agrees that team success should matter when deciding a winner, the voters think it does and that's not going to change. Before Russell Westbrook in 2017, no player had won MVP from a team which finished below second in its conference since Michael Jordan in 1988 when his Bulls finished third in the East; history favours winners.

Public opinion and narrative also play an important part in the award. Kevin Durant is unlikely to ever win MVP in Golden State because the perception of his narrative is that he took the easy way out and rode the coat tail of another team's success. Westbrook, on the other hand, had the edge on Harden in 2017 because his narrative was positive and the public loved what he was able to achieve even after losing his best teammate.

Harden then had the edge on LeBron James in 2018 after being snubbed for MVP twice in three years. The more these opinions flow on social media, the more it influences the voters.

Based on the criteria by which the voters have subtly abided for decades, these are the lead candidates for MVP in 2019.