Durant The Clear MVP Choice So Far This Season

Something new happened at The Peake Friday night.

No, not Kevin Durant's career-high 54 points. It happened during the final minutes of the Thunder's 127-121 win over Golden State, while KD was securing his new career-high.

As Durant stood at the free throw line, scoring point No. 53 and No. 54, the sellout crowd serenaded him with a chant that isn't heard nearly as often as it should.

"M-V-P! M-V-P!"

Sure, the chant is a bit overrated and has grown old over the years, mainly thanks to fans in New York and Los Angeles serenading Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant, respectively, whenever they step to the free throw line in the middle of an impressive performance.

But this season, it's the truth. Right now, Kevin Durant is the MVP of the NBA, and it's not particularly close.

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There's always a bit of winner fatigue when a certain player wins an award multiple times, but LeBron James winning two consecutive MVP awards isn't what is going to give Durant his first award, even though that has been a popular stance across the league this season.

Winner fatigue is a constant argument, but one that isn't discussed is the fact that previous winners enter each season a leg up on the rest of the competition. That seems as unfair as just giving the award to another player just because you're tired of someone winning everything.

However, we don't have to worry about either of those things because there isn't much of a debate to be had if you simply look at this season. So far this year, Durant is averaging 30.6 points per game, far and away best in the league. However, he's also averaging eight rebounds per game and five assists per game, a career-high.

Without sidekick Russell Westbrook, he's been even better; 36.3 points per game, including two 48-point games to go along with Friday night's exhibition.

After a 36-point performance in Houston Thursday night, Durant said he could take his game to another level. Friday night, he delivered, scoring 11 points in a 1:47 stretch in the fourth quarter that caused the Thunder fans at The Peake to nearly blow the roof off the building.

The most amazing part of the performance was how efficient he was. Durant went 19-of-28 from the floor and 11-of-13 from the foul line. It didn't even seem like he was shooting it that much because almost everything he shot went right through the net. Oh, and he even had six assists.

Even in the fourth quarter, when he repeatedly demanded the ball from Reggie Jackson, it didn't seem selfish because only a fool would deny giving the ball to the best scorer in the NBA when he's on fire.

We all knew Durant was sensational, but he's somehow turned sensational into super-sensational this season. Durant has been in the conversation for MVP the past two years, but if this incredible play keeps up, there's not even going to be a conversation this year.