USA TODAY Sports' Sam Amick and Jeff Zillgitt discuss whether the West is in a league of its own in the NBA. USA TODAY Sports
James Harden reacts during the third quarter against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.(Photo: Brad Penner, USAT)
The NBA MVP race this season hasn't been much of a race at all.
James Harden has been No. 1 for the vast majority of the year, followed by a handful of players, who, although very much in the conversation, have taken a back seat.
DeMar DeRozan is one of those players, and on Friday, he cast his vote for the NBA's most coveted regular-season award.
"(Harden has) earned it," DeRozan told reporters in Toronto. "The things he's been doing all year is incredible. I think he's a lock for it. He deserves it."
DeRozan also said Harden, his longtime friend who finished last season's MVP race in second behind Russell Westbrook, should have won the award then, too.
Harden finished with 22 first-place votes (to Westbrook's 69) and 753 total voting points (to Westbrook's 888). He also finished second in 2014-15, behind Stephen Curry.
Harden's Houston Rockets boast the best record in the NBA at 51-13 and are on pace to finish with 60-plus wins for the first time in franchise history. They're also riding an NBA-best 17-game winning streak and are 34-1 in games in which Harden, Chris Paul and Clint Capela have played.
DeRozan, meanwhile, has led his Toronto Raptors to the top spot in the Eastern Conference. They're also on pace to finish with the best record in franchise history.
The Rockets visit the Raptors on Friday night for what's sure to be a battle — a battle DeRozan couldn't have envisioned when he and Harden were playing against each other growing up in Los Angeles.
"I knew him when he didn't have a lick of hair on his face," DeRozan said. "It just came about, man. We've grown. We talk about it a lot, to where we would never think we'd be in a position we are today. To be able to have that type of conversation with a guy that you grew up with, that you went through every stage with, it's definitely crazy to see."
DeRozan's MVP endorsement wasn't lost on Harden, who responded with some praise of his own.
"That's like my brother," Harden said. "He's playing at an all-time level, too. He's out there killing. He has his team in the No. 1 seed in the East. He's doing extremely great things as well. Just to hear it from him, especially with the level he's playing at now, means a lot to me."
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