Sports Time Radio

There seems to be a lot of discussion this week on who should be the MVP in the NBA this season; so I thought we could take a look and see who the frontrunners are and if we can find an under the radar guy or two.

It seemed right from the start of the season that everyone was giving the MVP award to LeBron James. After all he is still one of the best players in the NBA; so winning this wouldn’t be a huge surprise, but they may have given him the award too early. Oddly people act like James has never won this award, but he actually has four different times and each time it was in back to back seasons. James won his first two MVP’s in 2008/09 & 2009/10. He then won the award again in the 2011/12 & 2012/13 seasons. James is having a good season and should be considered for this award for his play on the court not the fact that the mainstream media think he should’ve won this award more times than he has.

In the NBA like in every other major sport the winner of this award will be from a winning team; so even though Bradley Beal may be having the best season of any other NBA player this season he unfortunately plays for a terrible Washington Wizards team and while he’ll gets some votes for MVP he won’t receive enough to be a serious threat to win it. Beal is currently the league leading scorer. He is averaging 32.9 points per game for the 13-20 Wizards. It’s doubtful that Beal will even get to show his skills in the playoffs as the Wizards are currently 13th in the Eastern conference standings, but they are only 2 1/2 games out of the 8th spot; so maybe they’ll find a way into the playoffs, but it’s doubtful.

Joel Embiid is another name that’s gotten a lot of MVP buzz this season and rightfully so. The key for Embiid is staying healthy and so far this season he’s played in 29 of the Philadelphia 76ers 35 games this season; which by NBA standards is good. Embiid is currently 2nd in the league in scoring as he’s averaging 29.8 points per game and he’s 8th in the league in rebounding as he’s grabbing 11.3 rebounds per game. Philadelphia also has the best record in the Eastern conference at the moment at 23-12 and there’s no doubt that Embiid is a big part of that. If Embiid can continue to stay on the court this season he could be the leagues MVP.

Now a new name that’s appeared in the MVP conversation just this week is James Harden. After playing 8 games with the Houston Rockets Harden got his wish and was traded ending up with the Brooklyn Nets where he’s played more to the level that people where used to seeing Harden play at. Now it wasn’t expected that Harden would have to carry the load in Brooklyn like he did in Houston for so many seasons, but with the injury to Kevin Durant and the fact that game to game you just don’t know if Kyrie Irving will suit up Harden has had to really step up as the got to guy for Brooklyn. Harden has always been looked at as a scorer and he has led the NBA in scoring three times, but this season he’s averaging 11 assists per game and he’s also grabbing 8.7 rebounds per game. Harden seems to have inserted himself into the MVP conversation, but if and when Durant and Irving start to play regularly will Harden’s numbers take a hit?

Now generally when you’re the best team in the NBA your top player is in the conversation for the MVP award, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case this season. The Utah Jazz have the best record in the NBA at 27-8, but have you heard any of their players mentioned as a possible MVP candidate? Is it because they play in Utah? Is it because they don’t play with the flash of some of the other NBA teams? Or is it because the people who report on the NBA don’t take them as serious title contenders? There has to be something going on that we haven’t heard Donavan Mitchell’s name mentioned in the MVP conversation. If the Los Angeles Lakers had the best record in the NBA every show on ESPN would lead with LeBron James’ candidacy for MVP even if it wasn’t a NBA show, but you hardly hear anything about Mitchell.

Now I want to be fair here. I don’t think that Mitchell is the NBA’s MVP, but he should get the same consideration that other top players get if or when their team has had the best record in the league. I think if the Jazz finish with the best regular season record this season at best Mitchell will finish Top 5 in the MVP voting.

Could it be possible that Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers could find a way t sneak in and win the MVP? Lillard is quietly the leagues 3rd leading scorer averaging 29.6 points per game and the Trail Blazers 19-14 and should find their way into the Western conference playoffs. Lillard has had three 40 point games this season with his season high being 44 and he’s a threat to hit that number in any game. Of course being that Lillard plays in the Western conference he’s over shadowed by the bigger names like James or Kawhi Leonard, but when you look at his numbers it wouldn’t be a surprise if he picks up a large number of MVP votes, but I’m not sure he could get enough to win the award.

Another player that got a lot of MVP talk early in the season was Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, but I don’t know why people stopped mentioning him as an MVP candidate. Jokic averages a double-double a game as he’s scoring 27.3 points per game and grabbing 11 rebounds per game. Jokic is also handing out 8.6 assists per game which is good for 6th in the league. Two nights ago Jokic had 39 points and 9 rebounds in the Nuggets win over the Chicago Bulls and then last night Jokic had a triple-double in a win against the Milwaukee Bucks. Jokic had 37 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in the Nuggets win against Milwaukee. Why did he fall out of the MVP conversation?

Unfortunately if the mainstream media wants LeBron James to win this award; well he’s going to win this award, but there are some other candidates to consider.

As always I’d like to know what you think. Who’s going to win the NBA MVP award?

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