Welcome to the Morning Shootaround, where every weekday you’ll get a fresh, topical column from one of SI.com’s NBA writers: Howard Beck on Mondays, Chris Mannix on Tuesdays, Michael Pina on Wednesdays, Chris Herring on Thursdays and Rohan Nadkarni on Fridays.
For many NBA fans, the race for MVP has gotten considerably less interesting in recent weeks.
First Joel Embiid, a season-long frontrunner, went down with a bone bruise three weeks ago. Then LeBron James, whose play had him firmly in the conversation for the honor, went down with a high-ankle sprain last week that figures to keep him out of action through at least mid-April.