In the early months of the season, there were signs that we could potentially have a real battle for the MVP award but as the campaign has gone on, one man has managed to separate himself from the rest of the pack.

Houston Rockets superstar James Harden has been consistently terrific throughout the year and has inspired his team to the top of the Western Conference standings with the best record in the NBA at 43-13 heading into the All-Star break.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant are all enjoying brilliant seasons and haven't done much wrong in terms of their MVP candidacy. But Harden has just been able to do more.

Having lost out to Stephen Curry twice and last year to Russell Westbrook, this should be the 28-year-old's time to receive the award.

In the eyes of teammate Chris Paul, “it’s not even going to be close.”

“Have you been watching? A lot of people just get the alert on their phones. Double-double, triple-double, whatever,” Paul told Michael Lee of Yahoo! Sports.

“I watch every game that comes on, every night. If you’re just getting alerts on your phone and see what the stats are, you don’t know what’s happening.”

“I see the work that he puts in day in and day out. I see what our record is and how many games I’ve been out [11-7]. We got a ways to go but to me, I get a chance to see what he does for our team.”

Harden's numbers certainly prove that he deserves to be the top candidate.

He leads the league in scoring at 31.3 points per game and is second in assists with nine, to go along with 5.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals a night.

These figures are even more impressive given the fact that the six-time All-Star has shared ball-handling responsibilities with Paul following his arrival in the summer.

'The Beard' is also shooting 38.4 percent from three-point range - his highest mark as a member of the Rockets.

His individual numbers, coupled with the league's best record, prove why he's the favourite for the MVP honour and it'll be tough to see anybody pipping him in the second half of the campaign.