As the 2018-19 NBA season winds to a close, a great deal of attention is being paid to two major award races.
As usual, the MVP debate takes most of the oxygen and, this year, the battle between Rockets guard James Harden and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo is generating all kinds of buzz. In addition, the Rookie of the Year award race is quite interesting, with Mavs standout Luka Doncic cooling off a bit (at least from an efficiency perspective) and Hawks guard Trae Young zooming to the finish with memorably productive play.
The nip-and-tuck nature of both races (at least in the court of public opinion) leads to many varying opinions but, on Sunday, Nets guard D’Angelo Russell weighed in with a viewpoint that is gaining traction in some circles. To put it plainly, he believes that each race should be called… a draw.
Co MVP’s & Co ROY’s #ItsOnlyRight
— D'Angelo Russell (@Dloading) March 31, 2019
On the ROY side, there have been ties in the past, with the most recent example of Steve Francis and Elton Brand splitting the award following the 1999-2000 season. In the case of MVP, though, there is no such precedent and, perhaps more importantly, it would be jarringly difficult for even one of these races to end in a tie.
In short, there are (many) more people voting for these awards in a present-day sense and, with the balloting practices in place, voters are forced to choose a single candidate. Beyond that, it would take some mathematical weirdness for either to end in a tie and, well, the possibility that both were to do so would be astronomical.
Russell isn’t alone to calling for a split vote and, in some ways, that is a credit to the performance of all four players. At the moment, betting markets dictate that Antetokounmpo and Doncic are the favorites to take home the hardware but, as we’ve learned throughout the season, a lot can change in a short period of time and the season isn’t over just yet.
