yes
Ok. Then in a season where James Harden is historically great, why is Davis getting MVP consideration for the first time? His reputation is now catching up to his game? Competitors like Westbrook and Lebron got 'worse'?
Davis already has a top 5 finish in MVP voting (he was also 9th last year). And you could argue last year he had better overall stats then he does this year.
Of course, the simple answer is team wins matter in that award and this is the best supporting cast (even without Cousins) that Davis has ever had. When your team wins more games, you get more recognition for awards and accolades.
Yeah, 9th doesn't really count to me as 'in the running', but the team element makes sense.
I'm still up in the air, but I'm skeptical that he didn't improve from age 23 to 25.
I'm sure he is a bit better, but statistically he has been fairly consistent on a per possession basis for the last 4 season.
Here are his Per 100 possession numbers for his career. notice the last 4 seasons are very similar.
Season/Age/Tm/Lg/Pos/G/GS/MP/FG/FGA/FG%/3P/3PA/3P%/2P/2PA/2P%/FT/FTA/FT%/ORB/DRB/TRB/AST/STL/BLK/TOV/PF/PTS/ORtg/DRtg
2012-13
19 NOH NBA PF 64 60 1846 10.3 19.9 .516 0.0 0.2 .000 10.3 19.7 .521 5.0 6.6 .751 4.8 10.5 15.3 1.9 2.2 3.3 2.6 4.6 25.5 113 104
2013-14 ★
20 NOP NBA PF 67 66 2358 11.5 22.2 .519 0.0 0.2 .222 11.5 22.0 .522 7.7 9.7 .791 4.6 10.3 14.9 2.3 2.0 4.2 2.4 4.4 30.8 119 104
2014-15 ★
21 NOP NBA PF 68 68 2455 13.7 25.7 .535 0.0 0.3 .083 13.7 25.4 .540 7.9 9.9 .805 3.7 11.2 14.9 3.2 2.1 4.3 2.0 3.0 35.4 122 100
2015-16 ★
22 NOP NBA C 61 61 2164 12.8 26.0 .493 0.8 2.5 .324 12.0 23.6 .511 7.5 9.9 .758 3.0 11.4 14.4 2.7 1.8 2.9 2.8 3.4 33.9 110 104
2016-17 ★
23 NOP NBA C 75 75 2708 13.9 27.6 .505 0.7 2.4 .299 13.2 25.2 .524 9.4 11.7 .802 3.1 12.9 16.0 2.8 1.7 3.0 3.3 3.0 38.0 112 102
2017-18 ★
24 NOP NBA PF 64 64 2334 13.7 25.6 .537 1.0 3.0 .340 12.7 22.5 .563 8.5 10.2 .830 3.3 11.3 14.6 3.1 1.9 3.1 2.9 2.8 37.0 119 103