What the Last Few NBA MVP Award Recipients Have Taught Us About the MVP Award

Monday night marked the 1st annual NBA Awards Show, and I must say — I was rather impressed. Like most live productions, this was not without its flaws. However, considering that this year’s ceremony was the first go around and taking into account the crowd that the show was catered to, I would have to say it was successful.

The winners of the awards were not at all shocking either, as no one was snubbed. There were a few categories, however, where multiple players could have rightfully won. The Milwaukee Bucks had a promising evening, and that isn’t just a figure of speech. Two of their younger players and leaders alike both took home hardware. Rookie guard Malcolm Brogdon took home this year’s Rookie of the Year Award while the Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokounmpo took home this year’s Most Improved Player Award. Draymond Green took home the DPOY trophy, while Coach of the Year was bestowed upon Mike D’Antoni of the Houston Rockets.

The Rockets also fielded multiple winners, as Eric Gordon won the Sixth Man of the Year, which could have easily gone to his teammate and fellow nominee Lou Williams. Monty Williams took home a special award and delivered one of the most moving acceptance speeches ever, as he accepted the inaugural Sager Strong Award, in the form of a very Craig Sager-esque jacket. Another moving moment was when several HOF big men took the stage to present Bill Russell (who some consider the GOAT of the NBA) the Lifetime Achievement Award. The Warriors Bob Myers was Executive of the Year, Dirk was Teammate of the Year, Kemba Walker won the Sportsmanship Award, and a whole other slew of awards were handed out, but the most important one belongs to Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

If you are looking for analysis as to how or why he shouldn’t have gotten the MVP Award, you’re barking up the wrong tree. However, we will take a brief look at why anyone who wins the award now-a-days seems to do so.

In looking at the MVP winners the last couple of years — Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry twice, Kevin Durant, and Lebron James — there are quite a few similarities that connect them to each other. They were all ball dominant during their perspective MVP seasons, are all legit business commodities outside of the NBA, and could have been nominated this year. But what stands out the most is that in each MVP’s astounding season, their or their team’s story has been the lifeline and heartbeat of said particular season.

Let’s think back to the last year LeBron James won the trophy, his last year in Miami. This was a year dominated by rumors of James returning to Cleveland (which he ultimately did), but was fueled by ESPN’s “Heat Index” and LeBron’s steady chase of another player that is widely considered the GOAT of basketball — Michael Jordan.

The year that Kevin Durant took home the trophy, the league practically doubled down on the storylines/good PR. Not only was it great for the league due to the publicity and marketing they received based on KD’s passionate speech dedicated to his mom, but Durant was all the rage of the league as the main attraction in OKC. This was the season that Russell Westbrook only made 46 starts. For the two seasons after that, which started the prescription containing steady doses of Warrior dominance, Steph Curry won the award on his way to breaking the single-season 3-point record. Not only did Curry come out with a signature shoe, but he, his wife, and their children became media darlings. This year showed a similar trend, although the entire world knew a GS/CLE finals rematch was apparent. During the season, we were compelled and glued to our sets as Russell Westbrook and James Harden went on a performance tear. The duo racked up triple double after triple double and big game after big game, ultimately leading to Westbrook breaking Oscar Robertson’s single-season triple double record and winning the MVP Award.

So, what have we learned about the NBA MVP Award over the past several years? For starters, anyone who tries to guess the criteria for winning it knows nothing. Some say the MVP should go to the best player in the league regardless of his team’s stature, since that would be awarding the ‘most valuable’ or best player in the league. Others prescribe to the notion that it should go to the best player on the best team, he who is most valuable to one of the most valuable teams. What the last few seasons and award winners have shown us, however, is that none of this is true. The MVP of the NBA is who the league considers ‘most valuable,’ but not for any of the above or previously theorized reasons. The league considers those who draws the most eyes to TV sets and storylines most valuable. Plain and simple.

This is evident, since LeBron James should be nominated (and probably win) for the award every year if we are going by “most valuable” or the “best player.” It is also clear because Steph Curry or Kevin Durant should have won the award this year if the phrase“most valuable to the most valuable team” or “best player on best team” was applicable. For the record, the NBA is a business and I have no problem with this notion of selection. At least now we can say we have a vague understanding of why and how the NBA MVP is selected every year.

Congratulations, Russ. You earned it!