I’m almost certainly going to be ridiculed for saying this, so I ask for forgiveness in advance, but I’m not quite sold on Kevin Durant‘s MVP legitimacy.
I know, I know. He’s currently averaging a league-best 29.5 points per game and is already a three-time scoring champion, he’s shooting 49 percent from the field (pretty impressive for a guy who shoots mostly jump shots), and he’s averaging what would be a career-high 8.1 rebounds per game.
Still, he’s not my MVP, not as long as LeBron James is in the league, shooting nearly 60 percent from the field, averaging close to seven assists per game, and knocking down over 40 percent of his three-pointers.
I could write a whole column debating LeBron vs. Durant for MVP, but I’m not going to do that. Why not? Because, if I had a vote, KD wouldn’t even be second on my MVP ballot. To me, he’s being vastly overrated by seemingly everyone in the basketball world.
Yes, I said it. Kevin Durant, overrated MVP candidate. And I mean it.
With Russell Westbrook out of the lineup, Durant is struggling to earn Ws (despite the gaudy stats), just like he was exposed during the Western Conference Semis against the Grizzlies, when he came up short in fourth quarter after fourth quarter (without Westbrook) en route to an abrupt playoff exit.
Since Russell underwent his third knee surgery in eight months, the Oklahoma City Thunder have been a completely different team. In fact, in 12 games without Westbrook this season, the Thunder have lost five times (including four times since his latest surgery), compared to just four losses in the 25 games that he has played.
On New Year’s Eve, the Thunder held a seven-point lead after three quarters against the Portland Trail Blazers, and Durant registered only one point and went 0-for-5 from the field in the fourth, resulting in a 98-94 Oklahoma City loss. Two nights later, the Thunder again led going into the fourth — this time by 11 against the Brooklyn Nets — and failed to close the deal, as Durant scored just four points in the quarter. And, last week, Durant allowed his team to lose to both the Utah Jazz and the Denver Nuggets, two teams that are heading further south by the day.
Really, Kevin Durant? That’s your MVP case? That’s not going to cut it. Not with me, at least.
As far as second place (after LeBron) in the race for the award, there are a number of players the case can be made for, even outside of Durant, from Paul George to LaMarcus Aldridge to Steph Curry. But there’s one more guy who, despite his numbers being slightly down this year, deserves much more recognition as an MVP candidate than he is getting: Tony Parker.
Very quietly, the San Antonio Spurs once again find themselves at the top of Western Conference standings, and nobody deserves more credit for that than one Tony Parker.
At first glance, Parker’s statistics aren’t nearly as impressive as Durant’s, but he’s shooting a better percentage from the field (51 percent to Durant’s 49 percent), he’s making more of his three-pointers (44 percent to 40 percent), and he has better assist totals (6.2 per game to 4.9 per game).
Despite those numbers, I will still concede that — from a statistical standpoint — Durant has had a better season than Parker, who is averaging a hair under 18 points per game. However, I would also argue that Parker has meant a whole lot more to San Antonio’s success than Durant has meant to Oklahoma City’s success, and that’s what I believe should be the ultimate measure for the MVP award. There’s a reason it’s called the Most Valuable Player award, not the Most Statistically Impressive award.
Unlike Kevin Durant, Tony Parker hasn’t played the majority of his season alongside Serge Ibaka and Russell Westbrook, two guys who have performed at All-Star caliber levels. Instead, Parker is the lone superstar on a team full of quality role players.
Keep reading to hear why Parker should be in the mix…
As unfortunate as it is, Kawhi Leonard, whom I expected to have a breakout year, falls into the role player category. After Leonard averaged nearly 15 points and over 11 rebounds per game in the NBA Finals, I fully expected him to make the leap into superstardom this season, but it just hasn’t happened.
And, though it does pain me to say it, Tim Duncan — the future first ballot Hall of Famer Tim Duncan — has also become a glorified role player. I’ve seen flashes of greatness from Duncan this season, but flashes of greatness don’t necessarily translate into a great season. He’s averaging just 14.5 points per game, which would be his second-lowest scoring average in a single season. He’s also shooting just 46 percent, a mark that would be the worst of his entire career. He still has the ability to score 20 points and grab 15 rebounds on any given night, but it isn’t the same Tim Duncan that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing.
After Duncan and Leonard, the rest of the guys, from Manu Ginobili to Boris Diaw to Marco Belinelli — are nice contributors, but once again, they are what they are: role players.
Yet, despite not having a true Robin to his Batman, Tony Parker still has the Spurs at 29-8 and in first place in the Western Conference. In fact, what he has done this season reminds me of what Tom Brady has done with his New England Patriots in the NFL. Like Brady, Parker’s statistics aren’t as staggering as last season and, like Brady, he’s had to earn wins with a bunch of different players being plugged into lineups. Still, Brady led the Patriots to a 12-4 regular season record and a first-round bye, while Parker has his team 21 games above .500 and just a half-game behind the Indiana Pacers for the best record in the NBA.
Every year, we expect the Spurs to fall off, and, every year, they keep winning games at a higher rate than anyone else, and this season has been no different. Gregg Popovich‘s coaching style obviously has plenty to do with that, but Tony Parker’s emergence as arguably a top-five player deserves much credit for the Spurs’ odds-defying success.
Again, I’m sorry, but there’s no way that Kevin Durant would earn the second-place vote on my MVP ballot over Tony Parker. Along with Ibaka and Westbrook, Durant is just one member of the Thunder’s version of a Big Three, and unlike LeBron, Durant hasn’t proven he can consistently win without a second superstar. Until he can do better than 5-4 without Russell over a nine-game stretch against mediocre competition, my stance on Durant is not going to change.
Luckily for him, Durant has a golden opportunity to prove something to me over the next few weeks, when his Thunder will take on the Houston Rockets, the Golden State Warriors, the Spurs, and LeBron’s Heat. If Durant can win a few of those games and if he can keep Oklahoma City near the top of the West until Westbrook gets back, then my opinion will probably change. Unless that happens, Tony Parker is my hands-down Most Valuable Player not named LeBron James.
Who is the best dark-horse MVP candidate right now?
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