Who has been the most valuable player in the postseason so far: LeBron or Kawhi? Or Steph or Draymond?
A regular season highlighted by standout individual performances has given way to a postseason with more of the same.
Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James led his team to sweeps of the Pacers and Raptors, while the Golden State Warriors duo of Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, the team's leaders at each end of the court, pushed their team in sweeps over the Trail Blazers and Jazz. Meanwhile, Kawhi Leonard has improved on his already remarkable efficiency to help the San Antonio Spurs move within a win of a conference finals matchup with the Warriors.
Here's how I'd rank them and the rest of the 10 most valuable players so far in the playoffs.
1. LeBron James
Cavaliers
SF
2017 playoff stats:
34.4 PPG | 9.0 RPG
While Leonard has produced more total wins above replacement player (WARP) and value over replacement player (VORP), that's largely a function of the Cavaliers playing the minimum eight games through the first two rounds. On a per-game basis, James is ahead in both categories, though Leonard still has a slight lead in win shares per game.
Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue has pushed James hard in pursuit of sweeps, playing him 42.4 minutes per game so far -- the most James has averaged in the playoffs since 2012, when he was age 27. And for good reason: The Cavaliers have been 26.5 points per 100 possessions worse in the playoffs with James on the bench, per NBA.com/Stats.
James has been on fire from 3-point range (46.8 percent accuracy on 5.9 attempts per game, the most in his playoff career), taking away what little hope opponents had of stopping him.
2. Kawhi Leonard
Spurs
SF
2017 playoff stats:
27.8 PPG | 47.1 3P%
Really, Leonard has been more like 1A in the rankings. His postseason rates as the most effective on a per-minute basis, and though the Spurs managed to beat the Houston Rockets in Tuesday's crucial Game 5 without Leonard on the court in overtime due to ankle and knee injuries, they've struggled with him on the bench overall. San Antonio's net rating is minus-11.6 per 100 possessions without Leonard in the playoffs; nobody else on the Spurs has a negative off-court net rating.
Leonard is delivering a 50/40/90 postseason thus far (52.4 percent from the field, 47.1 percent from 3 and 92.3 percent from the free-throw line), something that's been done just twice by players with at least 50 3-point and 50 free-throw attempts, according to Basketball-Reference.com: Larry Bird in 1985-86 and Chris Paul in 2014-15. That kind of accuracy has given Leonard the second-best true shooting percentage among players with at least 200 minutes, behind Al Horford of the Boston Celtics.
Oh, and Leonard has also defended MVP contender James Harden throughout this series. Ho hum.
3. Stephen Curry
Warriors
PG
2017 playoff stats:
27.1 PPG | 41.0 3P%
For all the Warriors' star power, there's no doubt that Curry is still the driving force in the team's success. Remarkably, his on/off differential is the largest of the contenders for postseason MVP. Golden State is outscoring opponents by 25.1 points per 100 possessions in the playoffs with Curry on the court, and has been outscored by 4.3 points per 100 possessions with him on the bench.
Curry leads the league with 32 postseason 3-pointers through just eight games and has shot 53.8 percent inside the arc after making just 48.6 percent of his 2-pointers in last season's injury-marred playoff run. Even in Curry's worst game, a 6-of-20 shooting night in Utah on Saturday, he scored 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Warriors blew open a close game.
4. Draymond Green
Warriors
PF
2017 playoff stats:
14.9 PPG | 9.1 RPG
A leading candidate for Defensive Player of the Year, Green has reached new heights defensively in the postseason, as Chris Herring detailed on FiveThirtyEight earlier this week. Green has nearly doubled his block rate from his regular-season mark, which was already a career high, as Golden State has posted far and away the league's best defensive rating relative to what its opponents averaged during the regular season. The Warriors are plus-11.0 by this measure; the Milwaukee Bucks, at plus-8.2, are the only other team better than plus-2.4.
At the other end, Green is making 51.2 percent of his 3-point attempts so far, an unsustainable rate that has nonetheless provided plenty of value to Golden State.
5. John Wall
Wizards
PG
2017 playoff stats:
28.8 PPG | 11.1 APG
We expected the playoffs to be a coming-out party for Wall after the best regular season of his career and he has delivered, reaching new heights as a scorer.
Wall has been flat-out unstoppable at times and has improved his true shooting from a career-best .541 during the regular season to .575. By virtue of playing 10 games and 38.8 minutes a night, Wall leads all players in field goals (and attempts), assists (and turnovers) and steals.
6. James Harden
Rockets
PG
2017 playoff stats:
30.3 PPG | 8.6 APG
As compared to his MVP-caliber regular season, Harden hasn't been quite as dominant in the playoffs.
Teams have done a better job taking away the open 3s Harden set up during the regular season, so he's averaging 8.4 assists per 36 minutes, down from 11.1 in the regular season. And because Harden has struggled to make the pull-up 3s that are a staple of his game (he's shooting 28.3 percent beyond the arc), his efficiency is down a touch, though his finishing and ability to get to the free-throw line have been as strong as ever.
7. Chris Paul
Clippers
PG
2017 playoff stats:
25.3 PPG | 9.9 APG
Of the players whose teams lost in the first round, Paul rates as the most valuable statistically. He was impressive in defeat, averaging 24.5 points and 9.6 assists per 36 minutes with his typical efficiency.
Paul almost single-handedly won Game 3 in Utah after Blake Griffin went down in the first half, but seemed to run out of gas in Game 7, when he shot 6-of-19 as the Clippers lost at home.
8. Gordon Hayward
Jazz
SF
2017 playoff stats:
24.1 PPG | 41.2 3P%
Hayward acquitted himself nicely in his first extended playoff run (in his previous appearance in 2012, the Jazz were swept in the first round), taking on a heavier offensive load than he did during the regular season -- and playing 40-plus minutes in seven of his 11 games -- without any loss of efficiency.
9. Mike Conley
Grizzlies
PG
2017 playoff stats:
24.7 PPG | 44.7 3P%
Conley was the biggest reason an undermanned Grizzlies team took the Spurs to six games in the opening round.
He averaged 23.8 points per 36 minutes, 6.8 more than he has ever averaged in the postseason, including a 35-point effort in a two-point Game 4 win.
10. Giannis Antetokounmpo
Bucks
SF
2017 playoff stats:
24.8 PPG | 9.5 RPG
In a taste of what's to come in his playoff future, Antetokounmpo played 40.5 minutes per game against Toronto and averaged 22.1 points per 36 minutes in addition to making explosive plays at both ends of the court.
Turnovers were a bit of a problem, including seven in an ugly Game 4 loss, and Antetokounmpo shot just 54.3 percent from the foul line in the series.