Every season in the NBA, it seems like two or three players really stick out compared to the rest of the league as the clear-cut MVP front-runners. This year though, you can make a case for eight players, possibly two or three more, to be MVP candidates this year. 

The talent in the NBA has never been greater and with the level of competition we have today, we are seeing some of the best basketball played in the history of the league. While it is unfortunate that there are no fans in the stands, we are really getting to see all of these guys pure skill on the court and really get a sense for how guys play without thousands of people watching them in an arena. 

The last several months in the NBA have been extremely different compared to what we are accustomed to as fans, but we are still getting to watch our favorite teams and players play at high-levels and put on a show night-in and night-out. 

This year, we have seen former league MVP’s like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, James Harden and Giannis Antetokounmpo once again make their cases for being MVP candidates, but we are also seeing new faces like Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Damian Lillard and Luka Doncic enter the conversation as well. 

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If the season was to end today, it would be very hard to not give the award to either Nikola Jokic or Joel Embiid, but there is still plenty of basketball left and this award is still very much up for grabs. 

There is no telling how the rest of the season will play out for any of these players listed above, but there are several factors that will play into one of them winning the award at the end of the year. Let’s take a look and address four different factors that will decide the outcome of the 2021 NBA MVP race.