All-Star break has long come and gone, and now teams are in full tilt play-off mode. The parity of the league has increased and each game becomes more and more important. And along with team expectations towards the playoffs comes the individual accolades, none more prestigious than league MVP. At the beginning of the season, Seattle Storm’s Lauren Jackson was the clear favorite to repeat as MVP for the third time. But an Achilles injury hampered her play, and she is only now getting back to form.

Next, there are the dynamos from the Phoenix Mercury to consider: Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter, second and third in league scoring, respectively. However, DT’s DUI earlier this year more than likely takes her out of the running, leaving Cappie. An argument can be made for Cappie as MVP, since the Mercury lead the West, but can we single her out as the MVP over Diana? Rather, the two seem to cancel each other out.

The same can be said of red hot Indiana Fever’s Tamika Catchings and Katie Douglas. Their PPG do not rank in the top 5, and it’s more so their combined play (along with strong team backing) that has contributed to the Fever’s success. Hard to choose one over the other for MVP.

Now who is left of note: none other than Becky Hammon, who currently leads the league in scoring with 20.9PPG, coming off a stellar career-high 38 point game against Sacramento. She’s also 5th in the league assists with 4.8/game. Becky was named Western Conference Player for the past week, and has consistently hit 20 points or more for the past few games. WNBA.com currently has Becky ranked 8th in the Race to MVP, but her numbers now definitely put her in the top tier. The only drawback is SASS’ record at 9-10, but they are still solidly in 4th place in the West. And remember, Lauren Jackson did win MVP in 2007 with Seattle in 4th place!