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Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press
Giannis Antetokounmpo was announced Friday as the NBA MVP for the second straight season, and LeBron James has thoughts.
“It pissed me off,” James told reporters in his virtual media availability after the Los Angeles Lakers’ big win over the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. “You know, I’m not saying the winner didn’t deserve the MVP. But that pissed me off. And I finished second in my career, be it in a championship, and now four times as MVP.”
Of the 101 members of the media who voted for the NBA end-of-season awards (of which this writer is not one), 85 put Antetokounmpo in first place; the other 16 had James No. 1. This came as no surprise to anyone, as they were the top two candidates all season.
“I’m not going to sit here and talk about what the criteria should be or what they are,” James said. “It has changed over the years since I came to the league,” he said. “Sometimes he’s the best player on the best team. Sometimes he’s the guy with the best season statistically. Sometimes … I mean, you don’t know. You don’t know. But you know, Giannis had a great season; I can definitely tell. that “.
In the immediate aftermath of their press conference, James went to his phone and tweeted that said essentially the same thing, because synergy has always been one of his strengths.
Let’s stipulate some things.
First: the correct player won the 2019-20 MVP award. Be it the team record or individual statistical performance, Antetokounmpo’s case is unassailable. PER is an imperfect statistic, but it had the largest single season mark in league history with 31.86 while averaging 29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game and plays defense worthy of Defensive Player of the Year (an award he also won) on a Milwaukee Bucks team that finished with the best record of the NBA.
The view is strange that Antetokounmpo accepted the vacation award in Athens while James’ team is playing in the Western Conference Finals. It is not the first time it happens. The loss of the Dallas Mavericks in the first round as the No. 1 seed in 2007 didn’t mean Dirk Nowitzki deserved that Most Valuable Player trophy. It is a regular season award and, for the second year in a row, Antetokounmpo had the best regular season.
Second: as much as James likes to complain about the award being decided by media narratives, this is how he got the number of votes he got. The fact that he was in the conversation – at age 35 in his 17th season, while leading the league in assists with the best team in the West – was in part because his team it is los angeles lakersBy far the most covered and popular franchise in the league.
Several voters have said how much.
Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press
Third: James is absolutely right that the criteria for the award are inconsistent and change from year to year. The phrase “MVP” is intentionally ambiguous and open to interpretation by voters.
For some, is the best player of the best team. For others, he is the most statistically dominant player or just the player they feel has defined the season from a story point of view. There is no right or wrong way to vote; the field is clearer in a few years.
You should know this though: there is a science behind what James said on Friday. He has known for months that he was not going to win this Most Valuable Player award. He’s not as angry about it as he acts. He has four MVP awards, the third-most of all time. (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won it six times, Michael Jordan and Bill Russell won it five times, Wilt Chamberlain is the only other player besides James who won it four times.) You are already in a historic company in that sense. No one will see your career differently if you retire with “just” four of them.
But James is playing long term. By shaking it now, you are planting the seeds to win MVP next season, as long as it takes place next season. He already has high-profile media support, and if the Lakers win this year’s title (a good chance), he will go into next season with an advantage in the “narrative” angle that he hates so much when going against them. . He will have four rings and probably Finals MVPs on three different teams (which has never been done before). If you have a statistical season in 2020-21 that is even close to the one you just had, and the Lakers are in the mix for titles, you will be the voting favorite.
Lynne Sladky / Associated Press
The MVP award is based on regular season performance, but postseason success absolutely influences voting when a previous winner falls short. James Harden was the pick he deserved in 2017-18, but voters have been chilling with him in years since then despite comparable stats. Several disappointing performances in the playoffs will do that. He’s not going to win another one until the Rockets do it and win the title, or at least make it to the Finals.
And you can bet Antetokounmpo won’t be a three-time MVP until he gets a ring. Losing in the Eastern Conference Finals last year when the Bucks hadn’t made it past the first round since 2001 doesn’t change the perception; lose as badly as he did to the Miami Heat in the second round this year.
If James enters next season as a four-time champion, it will be easy to cling to the idea that he is on a “payback tour” for the MVP who feels he should have won. Add in that you will be 36 years old, with a shrinking window to win your fifth MVP trophy, and there will be even more support to give you one to make up for others that were stolen from you earlier in your career.
No one that old has ever won an MVP (Karl Malone won it at 35 in 1999; Jordan was 34 in 1998). No one will have spent 12 years between their first and last trophy (James’s first was in 2009)
By winning it next year, James would make a kind of story that is completely his own. Being the MVP in league history would cement the “longevity” angle in his case for the greatest player of all time. James is smarter than any NBA superstar; he knows. Nothing he does is by accident.
By mourning the loss of the 2020 MVP award for narrative reasons, James is taking a leap in shaping that very narrative to work in his favor next year.
Sean Highkin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and lives in Portland. His work has been honored by the Professional Basketball Writers Association. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and in the B / R application.
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