We here in Rip City have been aware of Damian Lillard's greatness for some time. And while he's past the point of being "overlooked" or "underrated" -- at least relative to his first few seasons in the NBA -- he probably hasn't received the credit he's deserved nationally over the last few seasons as he's improved from being "All-Star caliber" to "MVP caliber."
There are some legitimate reasons for that -- the Trail Blazers struggling for almost the entirely of the 2019-20 season and the NBA being replete with immensely talented players being the most obvious explanations -- but keeping the Trail Blazers in the upper half of the Western Conference despite CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic sitting out the majority of the season thus far due to injury and his status as the most clutch player in the NBA are reason enough for Lillard to be considered as one of the frontrunners for the Most Valuable Player award a little over midway through the 2020-21 season.
So from here throughout the rest of the regular season, we're going to check in periodically on some of the regular MVP rankings to see how Lillard is tracking in the race for the Maurice Podoloff trophy.
• Michael C. Wright at NBA.com has Lillard at No. 2 on his weekly “Race To The MVP” rankings, two spots better than his previous ranking...
Wright has Lillard behind Denver center Nikola Jokic at No. 1 and ahead of Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo at No. 3.
• Chris B. Haynes at Yahoo! Sports also has Lillard at No. 2, one spot better than in his last rankings...
Haynes has Lillard behind 76ers center Joel Embiid at No. 1 and ahead of Lakers forward LeBron James at No. 3.
• Frank Urbina at Hoops Hype has Lillard at No. 8 in his MVP rankings, which is actually one spot worse than his previous ranking...
Urbina has Lillard behind Warriors guard Stephen Curry at No. 7 and ahead of Mavericks guard Luka Doncic at No. 9.
• Josh Weinstein and Andrew Joe Potter at The Score have Dame at No. 3 in their most recent MVP ranking, a one-spot improvement from their most recent survey...
Weinstein and Potter have Lillard behind Nikola Jokic at No. 2 and ahead of Giannis Antetokounmpo, the reigning NBA MVP, at No. 4.