A quarter of the way through the abbreviated NBA season, Derrick Rose (pictured), Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade have missed too many games to be part of the MVP conversation. They'll surely get back in the mix if they get healthy. But for now, their absence opens spots for some unlikely but deserving players. Here are FOXSports.com NBA editor John Galinsky's top 10 candidates so far.

* - Stats and rankings through Thursday, Jan. 26

His stats scream MVP: 29.1 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.1 assists, 2.1 steals, 54.5 FG%. In some ways, he's having the most dominant season of his nine-year career, picking up the slack for Dwyane Wade and keeping the Heat near the top of the East. Yet a few hiccups in fourth quarters have revived bad memories of last year's Finals and made the MVP race closer than the stats suggest.

Howard says he still wants to be traded. But he's playing so well, the Magic are coming to the conclusion that he's irreplaceable. Andrew Bynum? Not even close. Brook Lopez? Please. Howard is rebounding and passing better than ever while averaging 19.7 points, 15.6 boards and 2.3 assists. He's not perfect -- 46.7 FT%! -- but he's the best big man in the league by a mile.

Thanks to the emergence of James Harden and the (ahem) assertiveness of Russell Westbrook, Durant is attempting the fewest shots per game since his rookie season. But he's shooting over 50 percent for the first time and is averaging a career high in assists (3.3) along with 25.7 points and 7.2 rebounds. If the Thunder maintain the league's best record, he has a good shot at his first MVP.

At 33, Bryant's body is held together by silly putty and paper clips, but he isn't breaking down. Instead, he's leading the league in scoring, including a string of four straight 40-point games. That's a remarkable story, but it's also the product of volume shooting. He hasn't been a model of efficiency and his game has declined in some areas, but Old Kobe remains an elite player willing to put the Lakers on his back.

After getting criticized for shooting too much last season, what is Westbrook doing? Shooting even more! His shots are up and his assists are way down, but he still deserves much credit for the Thunder's fast start. With averages of 20.4 points, 5.6 assists and 4.7 rebounds, you could argue that Westbrook's versatility makes him even more valuable than Kevin Durant. You could argue that. We won't.

Greg Oden is out, again. Brandon Roy retired. But Aldridge has emerged as a star in his own right. Now in his sixth NBA season, he's averaging career highs in points (22.5), rebounds (8.9) and assists (2.8) while keeping the Blazers as unbeatable as ever at the Rose Garden. 

We prefer to honor the best players on winning teams, but we'll make an exception for Love. His stats are too impressive to ignore: 25.3 points and 13.7 rebounds per game. And along with Ricky Rubio, he's made the Wolves much better and much more interesting.

Manu Ginobili's hurt and Tim Duncan's past his prime, but the Spurs aren't going away. That's mainly thanks to Parker, who leads the team in scoring (17.6 ppg) but is also averaging a career-high 8.1 assists.

He struggled at times as a third option last season, but he's thrived as second fiddle to LeBron James with Dwyane Wade missing half of Miami's games. Bosh has scored about 26 points per game in Wade's absence and is averaging 21.7 points overall on career-best 54.7-percent shooting. And it's not just numbers. Bosh has helped Miami go 8-1 without Wade and even carried the Heat to a win in Atlanta with LeBron and Wade on the bench.

Who?! Yes, you may not have noticed what Houston's young point guard has done this season, but the answer is a lot of everything. Including Monday's triple-double in Minnesota, he's averaging 15.9 points, 8.8 assists and 6.9 rebounds for the Rockets, who won seven straight after a slow start.