Updated NBA MVP ladder: What are odds for Sixers’ Joel Embiid?

Don’t look now, but the Brooklyn Nets are winning games. A lot of them, to the point of being No. 4 in the East after starting the season in the basement. I’m not sure Kevin Durant is getting enough credit for his brilliance. We might just be numb to it by now, but his case for the MVP award is rock-solid.

The Nets have battled injuries and controversies unlike any team in the NBA. To be 18-12 is a minor miracle. Durant could have easily mailed it in this season after requesting a trade over the summer. The fact that he didn’t, even after the brutal start — the Ben Simmons struggles, the Steve Nash hack job, the Kyrie Irving soap opera and suspension — is a testament to Durant’s will to win.

Brooklyn now looks very comfortably in the second tier of the contenders circle. It all revolves around Durant. Simmons might never get back to 100 percent, Kyrie’s play style doesn’t always elevate teammates, and Brooklyn still has holes aplenty. But they’re playing hard, the offense runs smoothly, and Kevin Durant is an mythic beast, slaughtering defenses with a cobra’s precision.

His footwork, unguardable jump shot, sense of tempo — there aren’t many players more impressive to behold. It has been like that for a while, only now Durant is picking defenses apart with his passing and having the best defensive season of his career. The dude deserves his flowers.