Steve Nash is outplaying all of them.

29 wins, 53 losses, 6th worst in the league. The Phoenix Suns were just horrible last year. The lone bright spot came when the team started playing .500 ball over the last few weeks. It was also a housecleaning year. The Suns traded away Stephon Marbury and some large contracts and in exchange got some expiring contracts and major cap space for the off-season. The Suns went shopping in the off-season in major fashion signing Steve Nash away from the Mavericks and adding Quentin Richardson to an already young squad. The signings have helped spark the Suns 180 degrees and Nash's leadership has made them one of the best teams in the league and easily the most entertaining to watch.

Nash's net worth to the Suns was highlighted by the team's performance in the games he missed due to injury. In the 4 games Nash sat out (3 DNP + an 11-minute performance before exiting) the Suns looked as disoriented as Mike Tyson at a Spelling Bee. The Suns averaged around 86PPG in four successive losses without their floor general. With him, the team averages about 112 PPG, tops in the league.

Nash just makes things go. He's on pace for the highest assist average in over seven years. He feeds Amare Stoudemire in the lane like it's a buffet and he distributes the ball so well that the Suns have three guys in the top 25 (Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson, Richardson) and two guys in the top 10 (Johnson, Richardson) for 3-pointers made.

There are certainly knocks against Nash. His defensive skills are lacking to put it nicely but when's the last time a MVP's defensive skills overshadowed his offensive abilities? Nash also tends to break down with injuries as the season progresses due to the reckless and high-speed tempo he plays at. Still, you can't argue the impact Nash has had on the Suns turnaround and since a MVP is always measured by his team's success it just adds fire to the argument of Nash for MVP.

Nash's greatest competition for the MVP trophy is a player 11 years his junior but just as exciting and valuable to his team.

It's almost like he was waiting to get that first triple-double out of the way before making it a regular thing. LeBron's game is so complete that he could average a triple double.

	LeBron is closing in on owning sole possession of the NBA's throne. (Source: Nike.com)

LeBron had a terrific rookie campaign last year proving that all his abilities and skills were more than just merely hype; they were fact. LeBron was every bit the player expected last year and more but this year King James has taken his game to an even higher level and a real strong argument can be made that James is already the best player in the league. Depending on how bold the national panel of sports media wants to get with their voting LeBron James may well also be the NBA's most improved player. It's a difficult argument to make that last year's rookie of the year can also be recognized for an award that's typically given to former bench players given a chance to start or to players who formerly languished in developmental or European leagues but if you've seen James play this year then you may rethink who's most deserving of the award.

LeBron has taken everything that made you realize the hype was for real last year like his court vision, his passing skills, his ability to get teammates involved and the intensity which he drives to the net with and turned all those skills into "oohhh" and "ahhh" factors this year. Everything about his game is now amped up. Plus his jump-shot has gotten better, which like a play action pass in football simply opens up more opportunities. It kinda begs the question why LeBron was used so sparingly during the Olympics?

LeBron got his vindication for the lack of playing time in Greece earlier this year when he hung a career-high 43 points on Larry Brown's Pistons. Looking back on the whole summer fiasco, how in the world do you have LeBron sitting on the bench, Dwyane Wade not starting and Amare Stoudemire treated like an 11th man? If Larry Brown's assessment skills are that off maybe Darko Milcic isn't that bad after all? In a draft class that already includes LeBron, Carmelo, Wade, and Bosh, at this point Darko sticks out in that group like an Eminem Source magazine cover.

When there are two worthy MVP candidates on the same team, recent voting has told us their performances cancel out each other's chances for individual praise. Just this year Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz ended up splitting votes in the AL MVP race, which ended up going to Vladimir Guerrero. It's hard to decipher who is actually more valuable to a team when there are two big time performers. It's the reason why Shaq and super sophomore Dwyane Wade will cancel each other out this year.

Since we already know how great Shaq is and how unstoppable the big man is when he's really on, let's examine the lesser known side of the equation.

	Dwyane Wade has the dual-MVP's-on-the-same-team argument going against him. (Source: CNNSI.com)

Not only does Dwyane Wade have the most misspelled name in sports along with Ben Roethlisberger he also shares the same immediate impact Big Ben made entering the league. Some people will be wrong to assume that Wade didn't "arrive" until O'Neal landed in Miami. They'll be wrong simply because they'll assume I'm referring to Shaquille, when in fact Wade made his arrival known to everyone when Jermaine O'Neal landed on the Miami hard court before Wade did in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal. Wade posterized the 6'11 O'Neal with a dunk in the fourth quarter that highlighted his defining moment from his rookie campaign. Wade scored 14 points in the 4th quarter of that game which was a turning point in a playoff series that almost saw the upstart Heat get past the heavily favoured Pacers. Game 3 of that Heat-Pacers series will one day end up on ESPN Classic as the moment everyone took notice of Wade.

Wade has taken all that positive momentum into this year and is putting up unreal numbers: Top-10 PPG (23.4), Top-5 APG (7.4), and Top-15 SPG (1.56). He is one of those rare players that is worth the price of admission on his own.

So despite the great seasons of Wade, Shaq and LeBron and a second tier of MVP candidates that include Nash's good friends Dirk Nowitzki, Ray Allen and Tim Duncan no one has meant more to their team than Steve Nash. Not to slight Amare Stoudemire in any way but Nash is the catalyst for the NBA's most improved team and without him the Suns wouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as the NBA's elite teams.

Using the metaphor of time, the NBA's season has just passed noon but by the time the sun sets it will be shinning directly on the Canadian guard in the desert.