MVP. That stands for Most Valuable Player. Some fans confuse it with “Best Player In The World” or “Highest Scorer”. But that’s not correct. Therefore, the MVP Award should go to the player that proves to be far more influential for their team.
That’s why Russell Westbrook fully deserved it last season. Sure, notching 42 triple-doubles in 82 regular season games helped his cause. But most importantly, Westbrook deserved the Award since the Oklahoma City Thunder looked like a varsity team when Russ wasn’t on the court.
That’s why James Harden could have won it as well because he was extremely important for the Houston Rockets. He emerged as one of the best point guards in the league despite being a shooting guard by nature. But when Harden wasn’t on the court, Houston was not much of a threat on offense. We are not going to cover defense since by now everyone knows about Harden’s struggles on that side of the court.
And honestly, if we try to be as accurate as possible, then LeBron James should have been a finalist for the Award last season as well. Did anyone watch the Cavaliers when LeBron wasn’t on the court? They were dreadful. But with LBJ out there, they reached the NBA Finals for the third consecutive season.
That’s why it’s so hard to predict which player can be the favorite to win the NBA MVP Award next season. Aside from the fact that ANYTHING can happen over the course of an 82-game regular season, some of the top contenders for the Award won’t have the same degree of importance for their teams in comparison to last season.
For instance, Harden won’t be the top dog in the Rockets since Houston acquired Chris Paul in a trade with Los Angeles Clippers. And the offense could get even more divided if they somehow end up with Carmelo Anthony as well. The Knicks star is reportedly keen on joining Houston before the start of the season next month.
Westbrook got some much-needed help in Oklahoma City with the arrival of Paul George. But there’s no question Westbrook’s MVP chances took a serious hit as soon as George confirmed he was joining the Thunder. And no, we can’t expect 42 triple-doubles again from Russell. Especially since George can easily achieve that feat on a nightly basis as well.
So if we take a look at the league’s landscape with less than a month left for the start of the season, who could we consider as legit MVP candidates? Well, it’s tough. But if we are 100% accurate with the definition, then we don’t have many alternatives. We should discard The Big Four of the Golden State Warriors right away, though. Draymond Green and Klay Thompson are complementary pieces. And both Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant will annul each other on the race for the Award.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Karl-Anthony Towns appear as outside options. Kawhi Leonard has a decent chance since he’s the undisputed star on the San Antonio Spurs. And LeBron James should be among the favorites once again. Especially now that Kyrie Irving left the Cavaliers to join the Boston Celtics.
Make no mistake. The likes of Durant, Harden, Curry and the rest we mentioned remain as some of the top players in the league. But they no longer fit with the “MVP” description we mentioned above. They have too much help to remain as absolutely key pieces for their respective franchises.
But as we said above, ANYTHING can happen in an 82-game season. So we will have to wait until the end of the season to determine which player gets the NBA MVP Award in the 2017-18 campaign.