Of the current players in the mix, only Cousins and the Memphis Grizzlies’ Marc Gasol would be in the conversation, and they’re both expanding their games to beyond the 3-point line these days (see Gasol’s game-clinching heroics from Wednesday’s win over the LA Clippers).

You won’t find a traditional big man in the Top 10 of this week’s Kia Race to the MVP Ladder. Only Cousins, who is moving away from that distinction, is the only one even remotely on our list (he’s in the Next Five).

“The only way you get a guy in the mix in the foreseeable future is if you bet on Embiid,” Haywood said. “Think about it, the window passed for Dwight [Howard]. DeMarcus, with his situation, he’s not going to have a chance to win it anytime soon. Andre Drummond, he’s more of a dynamic role player in today’s game. He’s not a regular role player, but he’s not a star. He’s like a super-up version of Tristan Thompson. Same goes for DeAndre Jordan.”

The fundamental shift in the way all players learn the game has also changed the dynamic. Haywood played with Dirk Nowitzki, the MVP of the ’06-07 season. The shift in philosophy since then has been to find big men capable of stretching the floor first and use a traditional big man as a utility man in the paint.

“It doesn’t matter what size you are now,” Haywood said, “you are learning guard skills. In the 80s and the early 90s if you were a certain height, they put you right on the block and you work on jump hooks and turnaround jumpers and things of that nature. Now, your bigs can space all the way out to the 3-point line.

“You look at a guy like Porzingis, a guy 7-foot-3 playing like that back in the day was unheard of. That’s why you look at Dirk and he was so amazing because here was a 7-footer with legitimate perimeter skills. And now, everybody has guys like that. Like I said, the game has totally changed.”

Now, to this week’s rankings …

1. Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder

(last week: No. 1)

Get used to the late-game heroics we saw from Westbrook in the win over Houston. The Thunder won’t stay in the playoff hunt this season without a yeoman’s effort from the face of the franchise (33.8 points, 11.0 rebounds, 9.8 assists in last five games).