For a good stretch of time, playing at age 33, LeBron James was a popular pick for NBA MVP. He was arguably playing some of the best basketball of his career, and the Cleveland Cavaliers were cruising through the Eastern Conference after a shaky start.
Then things changed, injuries piled up, trades were made and the Cavaliers are now resigned to finishing in the top half of the conference and hoping to figure things out in the postseason.
In the process, talk of another James MVP run has slowed to a halt. Part of that has been the play of James Harden, who leads the league in scoring and has powered the Houston Rockets to the top seed in the Western Conference. But when asked about his MVP potential, LeBron is still confident he’s worthy of a vote.
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Confidence is key in sports, but even with his argument it’s tough to give LeBron the nod over Harden. The Beard is averaging 30.4 points per game and has a PER of over 30.
James, meanwhile, has 27.4 points per game and 9.1 rebounds. And though he is having a tremendous season, has stayed healthy, and is on pace to play in every game, it’s the results of the team overall that tell the tale. Harden and the Rockets look like the best team in the league, perhaps even better than the Warriors out West.
Defensively, however, Cleveland has struggled all season and LeBron’s play in that department hasn’t looked the best at times. What James is doing at age 33 is still remarkable and should be commended, but Harden is going to win MVP this year no matter what LeBron says to reporters.
