When you are an athlete at the highest level, you find motivation whenever you can.
In the case of LeBron James, that means finding snubs that don’t exist.
The Los Angeles Lakers superstar spoke to journalists in the NBA bubble on Monday about the impending NBA restart and the league’s MVP career. He believes he has presented a strong case for the award.
LeBron James of the Lakers: “As for the MVP career, I showed what I’m capable of … There was a lot of conversation about ‘LeBron can do those things in the East, but if he ever came to the West, what can he do he?’ I heard all of that. pic.twitter.com/yU70L3FmIz
– Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) July 20, 2020
“As for the MVP career, I think I have shown what I am capable of doing, not only individually from a team perspective, but we are number 1 in the West. There was a lot of conversation about, you know, LeBron could do those things in the East, but if he ever came to the West, what could he do?
“I heard all of that. To be able to have our team at the top of the Western Conference and play the way we played at the time and the way I played, is definitely a good feeling. ”
Giannis is MVP’s big favorite
James and the Lakers 49-14 have had an exceptional season. But the MVP career is a wrap for Giannis Antetokounmpo. The NBA reportedly sent out a memo last week that bubble games will not count toward individual awards. They will only consider games played before the league’s COVID-19 bracket.
Antetokounmpo has kept a firm grip on the award while leading the Milwaukee Bucks to the best record in the league at 53-12. While James has presented a remarkable statistical line (25.7 ppg, 10.6 apg, 7.9 rpg, 49.8 FG percentage), Antetokounmpo is demonstrably better (29.6 ppg, 13.7 rpg, 5.8 apg, 54.7 FG percentage).
Meanwhile, Antetokounmpo stands as an overwhelming -2500 favorite in MGM’s future MVP odds. James is the second best bet at +900.
LeBron James again finds motivation in snubs that don’t exist. (AP Photo / Lynne Sladky)
Restart of ‘King Washed’
But James is making his case anyway. And it’s making up slights, again, to back it up. James scoffed at the criticism that he couldn’t do “those things” in the Western Conference. If “those things” means being one of the best players in the game, then that’s something no reasonable basketball mind has ever said about the consensus of the two best players to play the game.
The straw man argument echoes James’ preseason campaign “Washed King” in which he tried to prove to his skeptics that they called him “laundering” wrong. When, in fact, no one of credibility ever called James “laundering.”
On Monday, James backed his “doing those things” in the case of the West by quoting Paul Rivera’s Twitter account with an unassigned quote that “He won’t do that in the West.”
Who Is Paul Rivera? He is a partner with James and co-creator of his HBO show “The Shop”, James’ ultimate platform for building his own narrative.
The current argument of the East against the West
Of course, there was a lot of conversation during James’ career to eight consecutive NBA Finals appearances about the strength of the East against the West. Overall, it suggested doubts about James’ ability to do the same in a consistently stronger West. Judging by his record of 3-6 in the finals, those doubts were justified.
James’ career to eight consecutive finals is remarkable and should be praised. But there is no reasonable argument against the fact that he did it in a regularly watered East.
And James was certainly not defending on Monday that proved those arguments were wrong. You may want to win a single playoff game with the Lakers before taking that line.
