Let's just get this out of the way: Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard is not going to win the NBA's Most Valuable Player award this season. It's already a crowded race, what with James Harden, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard all serving as frontrunners at one point or another this season, and the Trail Blazers' record and the fact he's not putting up triple-doubles on a regular basis scuttled Lillard's MVP chances long ago even though he's been one of the best players in the league since the All-Star break.
So no, Lillard is not going to win the Maurice Podoloff trophy at season's end. But his strong play in leading the Trail Blazers to a 13-3 record in March and what is increasingly looking like a fourth-consecutive trip to the postseason has landed the 6-3 point guard out of Weber State on the NBA's "Race To The MVP" ladder for the first time since the early days of the 2016-17 season. Lillard just makes the list at No. 10 on with just two weeks to play...
Lillard comes in at No. 10 behind Toronto's DeMar DeRozan at No. 9, Utah's Gordon Hayward at No. 8, Washington's John Wall and No. 7 and Golden State's Stephen Curry at No. 6, among others.