Paul George's recent 47-point explosion has made enough noise to potentially put him among the early slate of players considered for the Most Valuable Player award, powering the Oklahoma City Thunder to the second seed in a ruthlessly competitive Western Conference.
While he's clearly taking a more assertive load at the offensive end with Carmelo Anthony out of the picture, George won't dabble in MVP talk this early in the season, rather keeping zoned into what's ahead.
“That's not what my focus is,” Paul George told reporters on Sunday, according to Erik Horne of The Oklahoman. “My job is to play as hard as I can, try to win as much as possible. If that makes me MVP, then so be it.”
George is still far out of the MVP conversation in terms of a national standing, with names like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and even Stephen Curry taking precedent, despite missing a slew of games early in the season.
Staying in the top three spots in the West surely plays to George's favor, but the Thunder would first have to carve out a decent lead against its competition before he can emerge onto this shortlist fo elite NBA talent.
If Paul George does so and eventually wins, he would become the second Oklahoma City player to win the award in the last three seasons, following Russell Westbrook's historic first triple-double season in 2016-17.
