The word “valuable” in the NBA’s MVP award has opened up a million arguments over whether the award should go to the best player, the one carrying the most weight in a team or the man who has beaten the odds.

We all know it’s essentially a player of the year award. The trophy has been the property of LeBron James in recent years and with good reason.

The Heat star has won four of the last five MVPs and should have had a fifth had voter fatigue and apathy not set in after his move to Miami.

At the moment, the best player in the world is in real danger of ceding the title to Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant.

Not only are James’ numbers down across the board as well as playing some relatively weak defence, Durant is currently playing at a near-perfect level.

His defence and playmaking have improved beyond measure while his scoring only gets more deadly, averaging 31.2 points per game while shooting over 50 per cent from the field.

The ‘Slim Reaper’s’ bag of tricks were on full show on Sunday as he single-handedly tore apart the New York Knicks in a 112-100 win. Durant’s 41-point, 10-rebound, nine-assist line has been matched by just 21 players in the last 27 years, and one more assist would have put him in an elite category of just 13 in the same timespan.

What was frightening was just how easy Durant made it look. Durant’s job was to inspire a win and against a flawed side. That he did, but he performed it with such ruthless efficiency that it was hard to notice just what a dominant performance he was putting in.

Like his erstwhile rival and training partner James, Durant can no longer be compared to his peers. The second-highest scorer in the league is currently Carmelo Anthony and on Sunday Durant showed just how big the gap is between the two.

Anthony missed difficult and irresponsible shots while Durant swished through jumpers like he was going through the motions.

Anthony took three less shots than Durant but scored less than half his rival’s points. Moreover, Melo didn’t score in the fourth quarter.

Quite simply, it’s Durant and James… then everyone else.

No one, including James, has Durant’s physical characteristics. At nearly seven-foot tall, virtually every shot he attempts is essentially wide open because no defender can get within reach of the ball.

Dirk Nowitzki is the only player with the same advantage but he can’t run the length of a court in a blink of an eye like KD can.

Wing players quick enough to keep up with him have no chance of putting him off his shots while bigger defenders are blown by thanks to his phenomenal speed.

Durant is in an extremely exclusive club that averages 40 per cent for 3-pointers, 50 per cent for field goals and 90 per cent for free throws, and no one has ever achieved that feat while taking so many shots.

Beyond that, his rebounding is near-elite with 7.6 a game while his assists are at a career-high 5.5, a huge total for someone who scores so many points.

The way Durant is playing at the moment, the phrase “most valuable” is almost insulting.