The MVP chatter has been very loud of late with guys like Devin Booker and Ja Morant forcing their way into the conversation with the likes of Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the reigning MVP Nikola Jokic. If you ask Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel, however, the 48-year-old shot-caller firmly believes that LeBron James should be in the mix.

Vogel, however, is keeping his expectations in check. The Lakers coach stated that despite LeBron's tremendous season, he is also well aware of how LA's struggles have taken James out of the MVP picture:

“He is as deserving for MVP consideration as anybody in the league,” Vogel said on Friday, via Dave McMenamin for abc News. “I know how the voting goes — the team with the best record or top couple of records usually gets most of those considerations, so the win-loss record definitely would probably hurt him.

“But you can't tell me that anybody has played a better season than LeBron James has this year.”

LeBron is currently averaging a league-leading 30.0 points (on 52.3 percent shooting), to go along with 8.2 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game. The King is also draining a career-best 2.8 triples per game on a 35.4-percent clip. If the Lakers were one of the top seeds in the West then LeBron would definitely be a top contender for this year's MVP title.

Right now, though, the MVP award is not the biggest thing on LeBron's mind. The Lakers are fighting for dear life as they look to secure their spot in the Play-In game. Vogel understands this as well and he's spoken out about what he believes LA needs right now with less than 10 games remaining in the regular season:

“The bigger motivator for us down the stretch for us for the final nine games is, how are we playing?” Vogel said. “Are we playing winning basketball? And are we improving our habits well enough to win? Whether it's the play-in game, or if we're able to get through the play-in games, to win in the first round. The habits are the biggest motivator, and there's been some really encouraging signs with how we've played.”

LeBron has been playing some outstanding basketball this season and the Lakers will need every single bit of his greatness as the regular season winds down. And then there's the playoffs.