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And the vague criteria for winning the MVP is making the discussion more interesting.
by Mike Prada, Ben Epstein, and Tim Cato Mar 10, 2017, 10:01am EST
The NBA MVP race is as good as ever this year. You could give the award to any one of four players — James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Kawhi Leonard, or LeBron James — and each would be deserving.
Of course, that won’t stop us from arguing about which of the four deserves it most.
In the process, that raises a whole set of external questions. Why is it called “Most Valuable Player?” Is the award criteria vague on purpose? How is it possible that an MVP “moment” (or a seven-second sequence in one game) determines the narrative so much? Are we unknowingly participating in a league conspiracy to drum up interest in the regular season? And if so, is that so bad?
We tackled all these questions and more with SB Nation’s Tim Cato. We also talked about:
Tim’s experience covering the Rockets-Spurs game on Monday.
The Spurs publicly advocating for Kawhi to win the award in a way they didn’t used to do for Tim Duncan. What explains that? We have some theories.
Dirk Nowitzki’s 30,000 points and his legacy in Dallas.
Why the Mavericks are suddenly looking like an up-and-coming young team.
