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Not every great season in NBA history is rewarded with an MVP trophy.

This year, another all-time campaign will go unrecognized. If Russell Westbrook ends up holding the Maurice Podoloff Trophy after averaging a season-long triple-double, James Harden will be left out. The reverse will hold true if the bearded guard is the voters' favorite. And either way, Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James won't be given enough credit for their incredible efforts.

But will any of these current studs submit one of the best seasons in NBA history that didn't result in an MVP? In addition to ranking the top 20 (limited to one per player), this article will also let you know where those aforementioned superstars would sit if they maintained their current level of play until the end of the regular season and then failed to win the most prominent individual award.

As always in the Metrics 101 series, the rankings will be determined in wholly objective fashion.

We're drawing from a pool of 105 individual seasons earned by 54 different contributors throughout NBA history. Those 105 featured players on the losing ends of MVP races still drew enough love from voters to earn at least 0.3 MVP shares, which typically means they were either the No. 2 finisher during a runaway season from the actual winner or in contention with multiple players during a tight year. Either way, they were highly relevant to the basketball landscape.

Within that group, ranks were determined in each of the following categories: