LeBron James will be recognized as the NBA MVP…in June
LeBron James is above the NBA MVP award. The award he’s really chasing in the NBA Finals MVP, because that hardware probably comes with a ring.
LeBron James doesn’t deserve to be among the finalists for MVP. His stats weren’t as good as James Harden and Russell Westbrook. He often looked disinterested in playing defense. The Cavs stumbled to the finish line and looked primed to be upset in the NBA Playoffs.
Fast forward a month and the Cavs are the hottest team in the NBA, and James has everything to do with it. LBJ continues to drop 30-point games while recording freakish stat lines as he tries to help the Cavs make their third consecutive Finals appearance.
So LeBron isn’t among the finalist for MVP. Does it really matter. So it won’t say 10-time MVP on his Hall of Fame plaque. Does it have to? We have eyes. History will remember him as the greatest…especially if he continues to win.
LeBron shouldn’t be measured by the regular-season MVP award any longer. He’s above it, if that make sense. Should he win it every year? Yes. Cavs’ fans know what a LeBron-less world looks like. It’s a bleak, dark, cold world.
To on-lookers, James treats the regular season as one long exhibition season–and he still had spectacular stats: James was eighth in scoring (26.4 ppg). The 14-year veteran also set career highs in assists (8.7 apg; sixth in the NBA), rebounds (8.6 rpg) and triple-doubles (13; third in the NBA).
These are amazing numbers because too often, he looked bored and disinterested in playing defense. This isn’t a knock against James, the man just knows where legacies are made: the NBA Finals.
At this point in his career, the NBA Finals MVP should mean more to James. That’s how James can be defined, because if he’s winning this award, it means Cleveland is winning championships.
For the fans who like to measure Michael Jordan by his six championship rings, don’t forget, he got those Larry O’Brien trophies by dominating the Finals, and has six Finals’ MVP Awards to go along with it.
LeBron has four regular-season awards, and three Finals MVPs. Remember when he was winning the regular-season award with the Cavs during the King LeBron I era? Don’t you think he’d trade those in for a ring and an NBA Finals MVP?
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MVP awards are a nice feather in the cap, but ask Russell Westbrook and James Harden if they like sitting at home watching the rest of the playoffs.
And when we think about Jordan, what do remember the most about His Airness. It’s those images from the Finals; switching hands in mid air against the Lakers, shrugging off his greatness against the Blazers, shaking Byron Russell for the game winning shot in his last game with the Bulls.
It’s like LeBron coming out of nowhere to block Andre Iguodala to help deliver the Cavaliers their first title in franchise history.
No, the Finals MVP can’t be the defining achievement ever year, because as Iguodala showed two seasons ago, role players can win it with a good series.
But players already considered all-time greats win the hardware, it should mean something extra. These superstars, such as James, are rising above everyone else to lead their teams through a two-month playoff process in an atmosphere that the regular season just can’t rival.
Next: 5 ways the Cavs embarrassed the Celtics in Game 2
Russ, or Harden can accept the award for this season, but all anyone will remember is LeBron, if he’s successful in leading the Cavaliers to a second straight title and another Finals MVP award.