There's a reason it's called 'Most Valuable Player'
If you've been in a coma since late October, you missed out on one of the single greatest seasons by a player in the history of the NBA. Russell Westbrook sealed a triple double average on the season, and broke the league record for triple doubles in a season, once held by 'The Big O'. And somehow, someway Westbrook is still being overlooked by some of the biggest names in broadcasting, saying the likes of James Harden should be crowned the league's MVP. I'm here to introduce to you the unofficial rule of the NBA MVP.
For the past two seasons, Stephen Curry has walked away with the MVP; one of those times it was unanimous. But still, writers and analysts wanted to give the award to LeBron James. There is no question that James is the best player on the planet (universe TBD), but that doesn't give him the outright lifetime MVP award, right? But the argument is: James is the MOST VALUABLE player on his team. So despite the insane numbers and performances put up by Curry in the past two years, James was still able to feel robbed that he wasn't the MVP. So, if you're going to make that argument for LeBron, you have to make it for Westbrook.
For the first time in his career, Westbrook is without long time teammate Kevin Durant, who left for Golden State last summer. Taking away just about any hopes the OKC Thunder had of winning a championship, or even making the playoffs for that matter. But from game one of this season, you could tell that Westbrook was out for blood. For a good chunk of the season, James Harden and Westbrook were neck and neck for the trophy. But Westbrook's performances night after night were out of this world. The only thing that could possibly hurt his chances is his supporting cast, which without triple double after triple double would likely be picking in the lottery this summer. Do wins matter? That's where Harden comes in. Despite Westbrook making history by breaking the triple double record, doing so scoring 50 points AND the game winning bucket, Harden believes that the only stat that should matter is the win column. Which if we're going to play like that, Harden probably shouldn't win either. If we go by wins, I'm gonna give it to Leonard, James or Thomas for their phenomenal seasons, as well as being one of the top two seeds in their conference.
Harden's argument doesn't help him as much as he wants it to. The fans see it, the media can see it, the players see it and some of the greatest legends in the game see it. Despite being on a low seeded team, Westbrook should be the MVP because, well, he is the most valuable player in the league this season.
