Go ahead, call Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant the best player in the NBA. Heck, call him one of the greatest players of all time. No argument here.

Just don't call him the MVP. Not at this rate, anyway. Not with the media in charge of the voting.

Bryant may be having a historic season — he's averaging 35.8 points and, of course, scored an almost unfathomable 81 against Toronto last month — but those numbers alone won't be enough for him to win the award.

Why? Because if the media have proved one thing since they began voting for MVPs in 1980-81, it's that team success plays a crucial role in determining who wins the award. That doesn't work in Bryant's favor.

Neither does Bryant's tarnished — albeit improving — image. Or even his game itself, which some voters consider individualistic and selfish.

Though Bryant obviously is playing the best basketball of his career, the Lakers are on pace to win 44 games. That's not bad considering the talent that surrounds Bryant. But it probably won't be enough to sway voters who believe the Suns' Steve Nash, last season's MVP, is having a better season than in 2004-05 or that Chauncey Billups is the principal reason Detroit is on pace to win 70 games or that the Spurs' Tim Duncan still is the planet's best all-around player.

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Consider this stat: It has been 17 years since an MVP has played on a team that won fewer than 56 games in a nonshortened season. And another: Since the 1980-81 season, only one MVP has played on a team that won fewer than 50 games in a nonshortened season (Moses Malone, in 1982). History suggests one tough stretch for Bryant and the Lakers could take him out of consideration for the award altogether.

And, as usual, the well-worn debate about how you define the MVP will come into play. Should the Lakers stumble even just a little bit in the second half, the question invariably will be asked: "Can a player on a nonplayoff team be the MVP?"

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There is precedent. In 1975-76, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the award for a Lakers team that went 40-42 and missed the postseason. But players voted for the award back then. The media have been consistent over the years. If you want to win the MVP, your team better be pretty darn good.

So, with Nash guiding the Suns toward another 50-plus-win season — without Amare Stoudemire, no less — and with Billups having a career year and with Duncan once again doing his thing, Bryant likely will have to settle for winning the awe of onlookers instead of winning the award. Right now, at least, he's not in the midseason awards discussion.