The Most Valuable Player trophy has become the most prestigious individual award an NBA player can obtain. While many people differ on what exactly it means to be an MVP, all can agree it signals greatness.

Despite the honor that comes with the award, there have been great players who, whether due to a lack of team success or more deserving players, don't have an MVP award in their trophy room.

These are some of the best players who were never able to win the MVP award:

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1. Dwyane Wade

When looking at Dwyane Wade's prime years, it's pretty unbelievable he never won the MVP award. From 2005 through 2010, Wade averaged roughly 27 points, seven assists, five rebounds, two steals, and one block per game.

Clearly, stats were not the problem. The problem was the lack of team success.

In those five seasons, the Heat finished 2nd, having Shaq on the roster split the votes, 4th, 15th, Wade only played in 51 games in back to back seasons, 5th, and 5th.

Besides the 15th seed, the rest aren't terrible. But when you play in the same conference as LeBron James, who's leading his bad supporting cast to 60+ wins while putting up just as good if not better numbers, the win total has to be higher to even be considered.

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2. Chris Paul

Arguably the greatest point guard of his generation, it's been well documented how much Chris Paul does for whichever team he plays for. He's a master of orchestrating the offense while playing stellar defense on the other end. One would think that could equate to at least one MVP, right? Well, it didn't.

While playing for the Hornets, Paul's best chance to win was during the 2007-2008 season. CP3 averaged 22.8 points, 11.0 assists, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.8 steals while leading the Hornets to the 2nd seed in the West.

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Unfortunately, Paul was bested by Kobe Bryant, who led the Lakers to the 1st seed in the West while averaging 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 5.4 assists.

While with the Clippers, they never finished higher than third in the conference. Both times they did, the league was enamored with the storylines of Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, who both led their teams to better records while putting up better numbers. Hard to argue for Paul there.

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3. Jerry West

The logo of the NBA has never won its most prestigious individual award. Let that sink in.

West always had the numbers, never averaging less than 25 points, four rebounds, and five assists during his prime. The problem was that he played in an era with two of the greatest big men of all time, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, along with all-time great point guard Oscar Robertson.

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Wilt was always putting up mammoth numbers, averaging roughly 30 points and 20 rebounds for his career. In his prime, those numbers were closer to 40 and 25. West even played with Wilt for five seasons, only making things more difficult.

Russell was the ultimate winner who put up some mind-blowing numbers himself, grabbing over 20 rebounds pretty much every season. Oscar Robertson was averaging close to a 30 point triple double consistently. 25 points, four rebounds, and five assists even as a minimum is Hall of Fame worthy. Yet, in an era where guys were putting up video game numbers, it just wasn't good enough to win even a single MVP.

4. Jason Kidd

Jason Kidd is not the type of player who wins an MVP because of his stats.

During his first few years with the New Jersey Nets, Kidd averaged roughly 16 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, and two steals. Those are very good numbers, but Jason Kidd's MVP candidacy was more built on how he elevated those Nets teams.  After being the 12th seed in back to back seasons, once the Nets got Kidd for the 2001-2002 season, they skyrocketed all the way to the 1st seed, getting the second in consecutive years afterward.

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The things that ultimately stood in Kidd's way were Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.

Duncan was putting up 24 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, and close to three blocks a game while leading the Spurs to the 1st and second seed in the tougher Western Conference during the two seasons he won MVP.

Then KG bested Kidd while averaging 24.2 points, 13.9 rebounds. 5.0 assists, 2.2 blocks, and 1.5 steals as the Wolves got the 1st seed in the 03′-04′ season.

There's no shame in Kidd being bested by two of the greatest power forwards of all time. When those guys are having just as good if not better teams success while putting up better numbers, it's hard to hand the MVP trophy over to Kidd.

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5. Isiah Thomas

Relative to most MVP's, Thomas's numbers were ok. His best shot at MVP was during the 89′ and 90′ seasons, where he averaged about 18 points, nine assists, and almost two steals a game.

After finishing with the one seed in both 89′ and 90′, it's a little surprising that Thomas didn't get more MVP love, seeing as how he was the only star on his team.

Guys like Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman are definitely great players, but Magic Johnson, who won the MVP in both those seasons, was playing with an all-time great in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, along with Hall of Famer James Worthy, and great role players like Byron Scott and Michael Cooper

One could make the argument that because Thomas didn't have as much help around him, he should've won at least one MVP. The voters clearly didn't feel that way.