The Lakers' reigning MVP Kobe Bryant has made up ground and the Heat's Dwyane Wade, the league's top scorer, also is making a finishing kick.

No matter which of the three wins, an outstanding player will be denied the league's most prestigious individual award.

The smart money still is on James, whose Cavaliers now have the league's best record. If he wins, Wade, from the same draft class as James, may begin to wonder if he ever will have a shot at MVP, or if he is destined to join a short list of some of the league's all-time greats whose misfortune was to have their best years when other Hall of Famers were in their primes.

Here is our list of the greatest players never to win MVP:

Elgin Baylor

Lakers (1958-72)

With career averages of 27.4 points, 13.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists, how could Baylor never have been an MVP? Mostly, it was sharing his career span with the likes of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. His best shot would have been in 1961-62, when he averaged 38.6 points and 17.7 rebounds. Unfortunately, an injury limited him to 48 games that season. The next season, when he played every game and averaged 34.0 points and 14.3 rebounds, MVP Russell led Boston to the league's best record and averaged 23.6 rebounds.

Jerry West

Lakers (1960-73)

What? "The Logo" never won the MVP award? Sad, but true. Like Baylor, West had to contend with Russell, Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson early in his career, and teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the end. You wonder, though, about the 1968-69 season, when he averaged 25.4 points and 6.9 assists, yet the MVP went to a rookie, Washington's Wes Unseld. Like Baylor in what could have been his MVP turn, West was undone by an injury that cost him 21 games.

John Havlicek

Celtics (1962-78)

Who is the Celtics' all-time leading scorer? It's not Russell or Larry Bird, but Havlicek, who poured in 26,395 points, 14th on the all-time list. "Hondo" also earned eight championship rings during his illustrious career in Boston. Of course, in his Celtics prime he shared the court with Russell, who won two MVPs while Havlicek played. Later in his career, Abdul-Jabbar was winning five MVPs, and his teammate Dave Cowens won in 1972-73.

Patrick Ewing

Knicks, superSonics, Magic (1985-2002)

The Knicks' great center of the late-1980s and the entire 1990s led his team to the 1994 NBA Finals, averaging 24.5 points and 11.2 rebounds. The MVP that season, of course, was the Spurs' David Robinson, who averaged 27.6 points and 10.8 rebounds and led the team to the league's best record, 62-20. It was Ewing's misfortune to have to share his career with both "The Admiral' and "The Dream," Hakeem Olajuwon, the only centers able to crack Michael Jordan's hold on the MVP award.

Dominique Wilkins

Hawks, Clippers, Celtics, Spurs, Magic (1982-99)

The Human Highlight Film ranks 10th on the NBA's all-time scoring list, with 26,668 points, but is the only top-10 all-time scorer never to have won an MVP award. Even in his best seasons, he seemed to get overshadowed by Bird, Jordan or Magic Johnson. 'Nique led the league in scoring in 1985-86, averaging 30.3 points, but Bird won the MVP, averaging 25.8 points and 9.8 rebounds, leading the Celtics to an amazing 67-15 record that trumped everything.