It’s never been out of the realm of normalcy to consider Kobe Bryant an MVP candidate. He won the award in 2008, and for much of his career, he has floated among the the top candidates for the award.
Nevertheless, as Kobe’s career begins to wind down, and his window of MVP opportunity narrows, he continues to remain in contention for the prestigious award. With a star-studded supporting cast of Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum and Ron Artest going to battle with him every night, plausible reasoning would likely have the award going to a Kevin Durant, Chris Paul or Dwight Howard – a player who, if taken out of the lineup, would cause their respective teams to fall far away from the playoff race.
However, this season, Kobe’s play is still resonating as MVP-caliber in the mind’s of people across the nation. Most recently (and most publicly) that of ESPN’s Maurice Brooks, who publishes a weekly “Awards Watch” segment. In his most recent post, he has the Black Mamba on top of his rankings.
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