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2016-17 NBA Awards Season: Ranking The Top 4 MVP Candidates

By Gerald Bourguet

Mar 26, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) shake hands after a game at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 26, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) shake hands after a game at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /
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NBA Awards
Apr 15, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) reacts after a dunk in the third quarter against the Indiana Pacers in game one of the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

4. LeBron James

In any other season, 26.4 points, 8.7 assists and 8.6 rebounds per game on 54.8 percent shooting would be more than enough to merit MVP honors for the best basketball player in the world.

Most likely, LeBron James will be representing the Eastern Conference in his seventh straight Finals this season, and if your favorite team needed a win and could pick any player in the league as its team captain for that one game, you’d be crazy not to pick the King.

But the MVP Award is not based on playoff performances, nor is it based on who the best player is when push comes to shove. It’s about who had the best regular season, and even with career-highs in assists and rebounds, LeBron’s 2016-17 campaign comes up decidedly short of the next three candidates.

What the King is doing in his 14th season is remarkable, because he sure as hell doesn’t look like a 32-year-old when he’s racing down the court like a freight train and rising up to throw down demoralizing dunks or record unkind chase-down blocks above the rim. If not for Russell Westbrook and James Harden, LeBron’s 13 triple-doubles would’ve been more memorable.

But this wasn’t LeBron’s best season, or even one of his five best seasons. That wouldn’t matter if no one else measured up to him this year, but that’s not the case. Voter fatigue is a real thing for a guy who’s already won four MVP awards, and if his latest season doesn’t stack up to his peak years, it’s harder to be excited about casting one’s vote that way. However, it’s not just simple voter fatigue that holds LeBron’s candidacy back.

The Cleveland Cavaliers only won 51 games, giving them the fifth-best record in the league. That may seem impressive for a team that coasts through the regular season, but shouldn’t it matter that LeBron and company were just going through the motions when this MVP debate comes up?

Yes, LeBron played a whopping 37.8 minutes per game this season, so it’s hard to say he “coasted.” But he also missed eight games, and even if he was still playing a heavy dose of minutes, the Cavs didn’t exactly finish the season on the strongest note.

Cleveland was the NBA’s second-worst defense since the All-Star break, and 22nd-ranked defense over the entire season. They closed the year on a 10-14 skid, they had a worse record than Kawhi Leonard and James Harden’s teams, and they only won four more games than Russell Westbrook’s team.

LeBron James deserves to be in the conversation every year, but his drop-off in defensive effort and team success puts him fourth in one of the greatest four-way MVP races of all time.