MVP: revision needed

LeBron James is the best player in the world.  He is the two time reigning world champion, two time Finals MVP, and four time regular season MVP.  Today, no one would argue anyone’s case but LeBron’s in terms of the best all around player.  However, many say that he won’t be this year’s MVP.

The reasoning behind this is that the award must be given to the player that is most valuable for his team.  A great player on a team that would be great without him isn’t as valuable as a great player on a team that wouldn’t amount to anything without him.  LeBron is on a team whose roster includes six top five overall picks.  For those of you who don’t know what this means, suffice it to say that this is an NBA record for the amount of players that were considered in the top five of their rookie class in the NBA.  So, they are a team full of superstars and max contracts.  Because of this, LeBron may not be considered as valuable as others— namely Kevin Durant.

Kevin Durant plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that recently moved from Seattle to Oklahoma and whose ownership is one of the least rich in the entire league.  Durant normally plays alongside another All-Star, however, his teammate will be absent due to injury for at least the first month of the season.  It depends almost entirely on him to set his team on a winning streak at the beginning of the season.  Due to his state of, lets say lone stardom, he has been chosen by many to be the likely MVP for this coming season.

The stark differences in the appearance of the two superstar’s teams make for a big influence on the voting for MVP.  This shouldn’t be so.  While it is important that Durant be considered for the MVP award, this should depend solely on him, not his teammates.  A counterargument for this would be to say that basketball is a team sport, so the MVP must award the person that is the best for their team.  I disagree.  The MVP must award the best player.  The one that would be the best player on the floor regardless of whether he is playing alongside my grandmother, or Michael Jordan.  What if Durant were placed on the Heat team and James on the Thunder team? Would that make either of them different players? Better or worse? No.  They would have to adapt to alternate styles and roles, but would be the same player all in all.

The MVP criteria are flawed.  Correction, there should not really be an MVP voting criteria. The best player, the one that is voted the best player, should be chosen based on how good he is as a player, not a teammate.  This would not only make the MVP voting more interesting, but  it would also make for a more heated competition between the players— making them have to decide between the team win and the individual accolade.  The beauty of basketball lies in the necessary teamwork for a successful championship run. Because of this, the players would always choose the team over the accolade. This makes it so that whoever ends up winning the award managed to be a great player, while striving for team glory.  You’re up, NBA, make this right.