The NBA player to win the MVP honor this season will be remembered for the suspended games but more so because of the close race that pitted two great players. If a vote is to be held now, the pick will be between LeBron James and last year's winner Giannis Antetokounmpo. So who will be the best man to win?
According to Pistons legend Isiah Thomas, it has to be the guy who is driving his team to excel. He thought that would be the 35-year-old James, whose sterling performance in the last few games before the season was halted was just remarkable.
King James fired an average of 30 points in the last five games before COVID-19 paralyzed the NBA in early March, and he dished out over 10 assists and hauled down nearly the same number of rebounds during the same stretch. Along the way, the Lakers also defeated the two teams seen as the greatest threats to their title contention - the Clippers and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Clearly, James was on a roll as the regular season is marching to an end and he made sure that his team would win at the same time.
That was the exact sentiment by Thomas - James's crew was playing better basketball and the Lakers were closing in on the Bucks. There was no denying, Antetokounmpo was leading the race but for the Lakers' cause, it was James who was making the real difference, Thomas said.
"Giannis has been the frontrunner the whole year. But I thought before the season was suspended LeBron and the Lakers, they were making their move," Clutch Points reported the NBA veteran as saying.
"If the Lakers finish even or with a better record than the Milwaukee Bucks then you have to say LeBron James is the MVP of the League," added the two-time NBA champion.
Stat-wise, the Greek Freak surely has the advantage but James' overall presence on the floor, the leadership that he provides for the Lakers squad and his overall impact on the game cannot be discounted, according to fellow Lakers Jared Dudley.
While Antetokounmpo is nothing short of phenomenal in the season, and Dudley noted that the stats truly favor the Bucks superstar, "there is no one that compares to LeBron's leadership, on and off the floor," the long-time NBA player said, noting too that he has seen other superstars but James is one of a kind.
"Do I think Giannis' stats are better? Yes. But the MVP is not necessarily the best stats. That's why I'm giving LeBron the edge. I'll be the first one to tell everybody, I think Giannis' stats are a little bit better, but I believe LeBron has been more valuable this year," Silver Screen & Roll reported Dudley as saying.
He added that both Antetokounmpo and James are deserving of bringing home the honor but the latter has the edge not shown by the numbers and possibly even invisible to many.
