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Los Angeles Lakers’ best candidates for each NBA Award

By Cameron Salce

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 18: LeBron James #23 Of Team LeBron speaks after receiving the MVP award during the NBA All-Star Game as a part of 2018 NBA All-Star Weekend at STAPLES Center on February 18, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 18: LeBron James #23 Of Team LeBron speaks after receiving the MVP award during the NBA All-Star Game as a part of 2018 NBA All-Star Weekend at STAPLES Center on February 18, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Los Angeles Lakers
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MVP: LeBron James

The last time a Laker won the MVP award was when Kobe Bryant brought home the hardware in the 2007-08 season.

There is a great chance that drought is ended this season because LeBron has won the MVP award in back-to-back seasons two times in his career. He did it for the first time in the 2009 and 2010 seasons and then he did it most recently in the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

However, that does not mean he has not deserved it more times than that or that his game has slowed down since he last won the award five years ago. LeBron is in the running to win the MVP award every year because he is arguably the best overall player in the league and that has actually worked against him in some seasons.

For example, he was better than the eventual MVP James Harden in pretty much every statistical category last season. Somehow, those stats only got him 14 first place MVP votes.

He played 10 more games than Harden did, he had 320 more rebounds, had 117 more assists, and even scored 60 more points than Harden while shooting 10 percentage points better than him from the field. All stats are via Basketball-Reference.

His incredible numbers were not enough to overcome the fact that he has won the award four times already and Harden was snubbed two seasons in a row, so it made sense to give the trophy to someone new. Harden’s team also had a much better overall record in a tougher conference, which is a big factor in the MVP voting.

If James is able to lead the Lakers from a lottery team to a high playoff seed in the Western Conference, then he will for sure be one of the leading candidates to win MVP this season.

He was the leading prediction to take home the award according to some NBA analysts who voted him as the likely winner of the award in an ESPN poll about the 2019 awards. He is also the betting favorite in Las Vegas to win the award at 10/3 odds to win the award according to OddsShark.com.

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