LeBron James is now in his 15th season in the NBA and has been the best player in the league for a little over a decade. His production and ability to elevate others needs to be appreciated before we wish it was still here.The NBA media has a bad habit of falling prisoner to the moment when it comes to the MVP race. We saw it in 2011 when it was given to guard Derrick Rose in an attempt to create a narrative outside of Miami’s Big 3. Stephen Curry, a slender, shoot-first point guard was even made a unanimous MVP in 2016. However, the final straw was the pity campaign made for Russell Westbrook last season after Kevin Durant left for Golden State, using the triple double as validation. Westbrook was out of the playoffs in five games, some value.

The voters have the opportunity to do the right thing – award LeBron with the MVP award after a five-year absence. Since the start of the year, the King of Akron has been on a tear that hasn’t been seen since his days in South Beach. At the ripe age of 32, LeBron James is averaging 28.2 points per game, 8.5 assists per game, 8.1 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.3 steals. He’s shooting a career high 58.5-percent from the field and 42.1-percent from three. Those numbers are better than James Harden, Curry, and Kyrie Irving.

While these numbers are unbelievable for any player in the league, we’ve come to expect this play from James. His everyday greatness is a detriment to his annual MVP candidacy.

However, each year brings new hope, something LeBron’s Cavaliers must have received slightly late. They started the year crawling to a 5-7 record. Through much of the sluggish start many of the same questions that have surrounded a LeBron-led team swirled. Questions such as: “Is this the year LeBron’s stranglehold on the East finally relents?” or “Was the departure of Kyrie more significant than we first suspected?”

Despite all the uncertainties that came with an underwhelming start, LeBron weathered the storm and elevated an aging roster. Moving Dwyane Wade to the bench, allowing James to take over the role of point guard has proven to be a lethal strategic move. Since then the Cleveland Cavaliers have won 14 of their last 15 games; the catalyst being one LeBron James.

In his illustrious career, James has done many remarkable things, like taking a subpar roster to the finals at the young age of 22 or beating the greatest regular season team of all time in the finals to bring Cleveland its first sports championship in over 50 years. This season is still young. LeBron has yet to finish painting his latest masterpiece. I urge everyone to take a step back and appreciate what we are witnessing. We will never see the likes of the King again.