With the Oklahoma City Thunder missing their two primary MVP candidates in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook through injury, there is another man on the roster who apparently likes his chances at the award, Kendrick Perkins.
Now Perkins may be an NBA Champion from his time with the Boston Celtics, who lifted the Larry O'Brien Trophy in 2008, but his career averages of 5.6 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game certainly don't scream Most Valuable Player by any stretch of the imagination.
However Perkins and the rest of the depleted Oklahoma City squad received a standing ovation in the first quarter of the Thunder's contest with the Sacramento Kings and the center drifted into an alternate reality where he was the star man.
The red hot Kings were a surprising 5-1 when they ventured to Oklahoma to take on the injury plagued Thunder.
The home team only had nine active players in their rotation due to the large amount of injuries and the fans appreciated the brilliant effort by the mixture of role players, they erupted into a standing ovation as the team took a 24-17 lead in the first quarter.
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Perkins for MVP
This is where Perkins would begin his delusions of grandeur as the 30-year-old embraced the crowd noise and in his head became the MVP of the NBA for a few seconds.
The Thunder would go on to beat the Kings 101-93 and the center spoke to Royce Young of DailyThunder.com after the win and would explain how he heard MVP chants:
"Perk on getting a standing ovation in the first quarter: “It felt good. I thought I heard a couple MVP chants.” I told him I didn’t hear any of those. “Yeah, neither did I. Just in my head.”
In all honesty without their two superstars in Durant and Westbrook, this team needs to battle hard in a brutal Western Conference to have any hope of making the playoffs, they need a lot more players as well as Perkins to believe they can be MVP this season.
