NBA.coms updated MVP Ladder:
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo
2. Luka Doncic
3. Jayson Tatum
4. Donovan Mitchell
5. Ja Morant
6. Devin Booker
7. Nikola Jokic
8. Kevin Durant
9. Damian Lillard
10. Stephen Curry
Pretty reasonable overall. My one quibble is I don't see Donovan Mitchell as that high. I would have Jokic, Lillard, and Curry all above him. I can see him in the discussion, but not quite that high. Maybe something more like this:
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo
2. Luka Doncic
3. Jayson Tatum
4. Nikola Jokic
5. Ja Morant
6. Damian Lillard
7. Stephen Curry
8. Kevin Durant
9. Donovan Mitchell
10. Devin Booker
For the record, I prefer Tatum to Doncic as the star to build around but I think Doncic would get more votes if the vote was held today.
Which is weird because the Mavs are hovering around .500. I get it, Doncic is the media darling and his game is next level, but if his team ends up in the 46-48 win area, I don't see how he gets MVP.
I guess this goes back to a fundamental question: "What is the definition of Most Valuable Player?" Some people believe that MVP involves making your team really good, therefore a player on a mediocre or bad team shouldn't win MVP. But the counterargument to that is, "Well imagine how much worse this mediocre or bad team would be if they didn't have Player X."
In fact, that was a primary argument when Alex Rodriguez won MLB MVP with the Texas Rangers in 2003the Rangers were only 71-91, but quite a few people argued that they would've been only, like, a 40-win team without A-Rod's league-leading 47 homers and .600 slugging %.
Different sport, of course, but I think all the major North American sports wrestle with the question "What makes an MVP?"
For the current NBA season, it could be argued (convincingly, I think) that a Celtics team without Tatum wouldn't suffer as much as a Mavs team without Doncic, because the Celtics have a more complete team, therefore Doncic is more valuable to the Mavs than Tatum is to the Celtics. Not saying that's how I see it, but I think that idea is out there.