The 2017-18 NBA Most Valuable Player Award has been the Houston Rockets’ James Harden’s to lose. Some of the media members who have a vote have pretty much handed him the award but the individual players of the Cleveland Cavaliers haven’t conceded it to Harden just yet. Virtually everyone on the team believes that LeBron James should take home the MVP award this season.
Except for one player, that is.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin posted a link on Twitter that showed the results of a poll in which 13 Cavaliers voted for MVP, Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year, Most Improved Player, Defensive Player of the Year, and Sixth Man of the Year.
Here’s what McMenamin said pertaining to the Cavs’ MVP voting results:
“ESPN conducted an anonymous poll with 13 Cleveland Cavaliers players Wednesday to see how they would vote for the six major awards and none of the results were unanimous, including LeBron James for MVP, who received 12 votes (James Harden getting the other). No instructions were given (i.e. not being allowed to vote for themselves or their own team, etc.).”
It’s interesting to think that there’s one player on James’ team that doesn’t think he is this season’s MVP.
If Harden wasn’t having a phenomenally amazing year, the Cavaliers forward would be the runaway winner. James’ averages of 27.5 points, 8.6 rebounds and 9.1 assists are numbers that are among the league’s best and should be enough to warrant consideration from the media members included in the voting process.
In Harden’s favor is the fact that the Rockets star led his team to the best record in the NBA this season at 65-17. He lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook last year.
James is a perpetual candidate to win the award but it’s been five years since he won the last of his four MVPs. The Cavs have won 50 games this season, nearly matching their record of 51 wins last year, despite losing All-Star Kyrie Irving in a trade in the offseason and having a roster overhaul at the Feb. 8 trading deadline.
That’s a testament to how great James is as he has carried the team to the finish line on his broad shoulders.
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