NBA Award Watch: LeBron, Westbrook and Kuzma headline the honors

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PHILADELPHIA, PA – NOVEMBER 27: LeBron James /

Most Valuable Player

It may have taken five weeks for us to come to this conclusion, but LeBron James has started to separate himself with James Harden as the top two candidates for the regular season MVP award.

Since Derrick Rose went down for the Cavaliers and Cleveland has had to play with Iman Shumpert and Jose Calderon as their starting point guards, they’ve rolled off eight straight wins.

For the season, James is averaging 28.5 points, 8.6 assists and 7.1 rebounds per game, while his PER is at 30.6, which leads the NBA. The last four times James has had a PER over 30 for the entire season, he has gone onto win the MVP award.

James has been spectacular without his top running mate, Isaiah Thomas, for the first quarter of the season. Kevin Love has been inconsistent and Tristan Thompson has been banged up. Kyle Korver and Dwyane Wade have been the best Cavaliers aside from James, and they both come off the bench.

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Cleveland needs to keep up its current win streak, because they were off to such a poor start to the season. They currently sit at 13-7 and will need to rattle off wins to finish off with the No. 1 seed in the East. If James can keep this pace up statistically and the team can finish with the best record in the Eastern Conference, he may win his 5th MVP award.

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