The NBA is so competitive these days, that every season, there are close to 10 players in the league that are worthy of winning the NBA MVP award.

Last season, the MVP award was won by Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook, but there were three or four other players that were worthy of the award as well, and next season looks set to be the same.

Over the past nine seasons though, the MVP award has been won by only five different players - Westbrook, LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Derrick Rose - with the Cleveland Cavaliers icon winning the most in that period with four.

However, James hasn't won the MVP award since the 2013 season, but Allen Iverson believes that's going to change this coming season.

The former Philadelphia 76ers icon believes the Cavaliers star will win the 2018 MVP award because he is a cut above the rest of the top players in the league despite being older than them.

Iverson said during an interview in Seattle last weekend, according to The Score: "I'm gonna go with LeBron regardless. I'd go with LeBron, and then it's everybody else. But there's so many great players, man. No disrespect to none of those young guys."

He added: "There's some bad little dudes that's rocking out but LeBron's always at the forefront."

If LeBron does win the MVP award in 2018, it will be the fifth MVP award of his career, putting him on par with Boston Celtics icon Bill Russell and Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan and one behind former Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who has the most in league history with six.

Despite his age of 32, James is still worthy of the MVP award as he has helped take his team to the NBA Finals, whether it be the Miami Heat or the Cleveland Cavaliers, for the past seven seasons. In 2017, he averaged 26.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 8.7 assists on 54.8 percent shooting from the floor and finished fourth in the award's voting.

LeBron should definitely be in MVP contention next season, but that could be more difficult to accomplish of Kyrie Irving ends up being traded away. Someone should ask Iverson again if he still believes James will be MVP if Irving leaves. Chances are though, he'll still say yes.