LeBron James has been the face of the NBA for the last 15 years and is one of the greatest players to ever play the game of basketball. Even if he does not surpass Michael Jordan for being the greatest of all time, it is still an honor to see an all-time great like James on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Last season was an interesting one for LeBron and the Lakers. Anthony Davis missed most of the season with a calf injury and then got hurt once more in the playoffs. That derailed the Lakers, who were a big problem for the Phoenix Suns with Davis healthy.
LeBron was not healthy, either. He rolled his ankle and suffered a pretty bad high ankle sprain and even though he returned for the playoffs it was clear that he was still feeling it. He never outright admitted to it after the Lakers’ loss, but the way he was jacking up threes instead of driving to the hoop told us all we need to know.
This injury and the Lakers’ early exit in the 2021 NBA Playoffs seemed to sour the opinion on LeBron James. ESPN’s Tim Bontemps spoke to 10 anonymous NBA executives and polled them on a variety of questions, one of which being who the best player in the league is.
Not a single executive chose LeBron James as the best player in the NBA. Five chose Kevin Durant, five chose Giannis Antetokounmpo. A dead tie with LeBron not being represented whatsoever.
This is absolutely disrespectful for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
This is not to take away anything that Giannis Antetokounmpo did in the NBA Playoffs. His performance in the NBA Finals was truly historic and he certainly gets his due for it.
However, let’s not pretend that four weeks before the Bucks won the title every NBA pundit was questioning how far this team could really go and were once again limited a bit with Giannis as the best player.
They overcame it and won the NBA title, but let’s also not pretend like they didn’t get some luck, either. Two-thirds of the Brooklyn big three was injured, the Atlanta Hawks shocked the Philadelphia 76ers and were simply too young to defeat the Bucks and in the Finals the Bucks played the Suns, who were the biggest beneficiaries of other team’s injuries.
I hate the attempt to try and put an asterisk on anything as part of the game is staying healthy, but the Suns were not the most talented team in the West. You could make the case that all three of their opponents, the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers would have beaten them if they were healthy.
Giannis deserves his love, it is just interesting how quickly the narrative shifted.
Kevin Durant also deserves credit as well. He was incredible for Brooklyn in the playoffs and if we are being honest, if his foot is not on the three-point line in Game 7 against the Bucks then Giannis probably doesn’t even get a single first-place vote. That is just how things work in the NBA.
I have no problem with either guy getting first-place votes but the fact that LeBron James did not get a single vote despite being a virtual lock to win MVP before getting injured this season. He was once again elevating a Lakers team that was not that great without Anthony Davis and was getting tremendous love for it in the media.
However, because he rolled his ankle and because AD got hurt in the playoffs he is overlooked heading into next season.
It really just feels like NBA executives just pick the flavor of the month when deciding who the best player in the league is. LeBron James is ol’ reliable. He will still be there when the flavor of the month gets old.