Paul: Harden will win MVP, it's 'not even going to be close'

After finishing second in the Most Valuable Player race twice, James Harden is the favorite to finally hoist the Maurice Podoloff Trophy.

Although there's still one-third of the season left to play, he apparently already has the award locked up, according to his Houston Rockets co-star.

"Look at what (Harden) does for our team. All everybody does now is look at the numbers. Nothing against stats. … But nobody looks at how the game went. Watch the game, too. I'm here. I get to see what he's doing night in, night out," Chris Paul said, as quoted by The Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen.

"A dynamic guard like that, a guy who can score and pass, do whatever, I think he showed everybody why he's going to be the MVP. Not even going to be close."

Harden, 28, leads the NBA with a career-high 31.5 points per game on 45.1 percent shooting from the field and 38.7 percent from long distance, to go along with 9.1 dimes (third), five rebounds, and 1.8 steals (eighth) over 43 contests. He's first in threes and free throws made - the two areas of focus in his team's second-ranked offense - as well as usage rate and PER.

As impressive as he's been offensively, and as unimpressive as he's been at the other end throughout his career, the All-Star starter has taken a major leap in that regard and now has the second-best post defense ranking behind former DPOY Marc Gasol, per Feigen. In perhaps no coincidence, the Rockets have surged into the top 10 defensively after finishing 18th last year.

Alongside Paul, Harden's led Houston to the second-best record in the league at 37-13 - just three games behind the No. 1 Warriors. And he's doing it in style.

Harden, who was the MVP runner-up to Stephen Curry in 2015 and to Russell Westbrook last year, has submitted multiple outstanding individual performances in 2017-18 - most notably when he became the first player in history to notch a 60-point triple-double earlier this week.

His point guard and hypeman took to Twitter to celebrate the momentous occasion.

Find someone who supports you the way Paul supports Harden.