Right now, the MVP race has become a two-horse race between Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. For Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, however, he seems to believe that he too should have been in the running had it not been for one key factor.

LeBron suffered an ankle injury in March — a crucial juncture in the campaign — which cost him several weeks on the sidelines. In a recent statement, James implied that the MVP race could have been different had he not been injured:

“I was playing some of the best basketball of my career before the injury and it was not – it wasn’t like a self-inflicted wound; it wasn’t something I could control,” LeBron said, via Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register. “Literally had a grown man diving at my leg for a loose ball and here’s the injury. You know, and so I had to pay the price of that.”

Clearly, LeBron is still ruing the incident in question wherein Atlanta Hawks forward Solomon Hill fell/dove into James' right ankle, causing the sprain. LeBron did not say it directly, but in truth, he did not have to. The Lakers superstar would have definitely been in the MVP race had it not been for the injury.

You also have to note that Anthony Davis was also sidelined when LeBron suffered the ankle sprain. Without AD in the picture, James had a tremendous opportunity to carry his squad sans his superstar teammate, thereby strengthening his own MVP bid.

That's all water under the bridge now, and we're sure that LeBron and the rest of the Lakers are now focused on other, more pressing matters at hand.