NBA MVP 2014: Kevin Durant Overwhelming Favorite For The Award! What About The Championship?

Kevin Durant will most likely win the NBA Most Valuable Player award, breaking the stranglehold of LeBron James. Will Durant and his Oklahoma City Thunder break Miami's championship streak?

ESPN's panel of sportswriters had made their predictions.  They chose Kevin Durant over LeBron James by a margin of 93-7. Although when asked about who SHOULD win the MVP, Kevin Durant's margin slid to 86-14.

ESPN gave a brief explanation of why Durant makes the grade this year: "Durant's teammate Russell Westbrook missed a long stretch of the season with knee trouble. While he was out, Durant and the Thunder cruised. The team won 20 of 27 without Westbrook in one stretch, and Durant kicked off a torrid scoring stretch that continues to this day.

By January 2014, ESPN Forecast had switched camps and saw Durant as 59 percent likely to take the MVP title."

It's not like the King just gave up his throne, but KD was just overwhelming. The rise of Durant continued: "James responded somewhat -- for instance, with a 61-point scoring outburst in early March against the Bobcats. And as the Pacers swooned, the Heat -- who, like a lot of champions, showed signs of pacing themselves -- rose to the top of the East by stepping up play late in the season. But Durant's torrid play continued even with Westbrook back, and the Thunder played well enough as a team.

In March, the panel said Durant was 81 percent likely to win."

Kevin Durant also broke a record previously held by the greatest player of all time, Michael Jordan-scoring at least 25 points in more consecutive games than His Airness. That may have been the clincher.

But the real 'throne' in the NBA is the championship. The MVP award is just gravy. LeBron would often say that defending the title for Miami is what he is concentrating on, not the individual accolades.

That would be a big fat diplomatic answer, because LeBron is very conscious about his legacy and where he would place among the game's greatest. He will not take losing the MVP lightly, but he will use it as fuel to the fire he needs in defending the Heat crown.