He’s already won this thing four times, with two different teams. But in his age-35 season, LeBron James is making a legitimate push to become both the first player to win the award with three different teams — he would add the Los Angeles Lakers to his previous wins with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat — and the second-oldest NBA MVP in history.
Only Karl Malone in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season was older among NBA MVP recipients than James will be at the end of this season. Malone turned 35 in July before the season began; James won’t hit his 35th birthday until Dec. 30.
James has played in all 29 games for the Lakers this season and since the last ladder has been almost a metronome in terms of consistency. In 14 games, he’s averaged 26.7 points per game — never scoring more than 33, but scoring at least 20 in each game — to go with 9.9 assists, 7.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 34.6 minutes per game.
He’s shooting 50.5 percent overall and 36.4 percent on 7.1 3-point attempts a night over that span.
For the season, LeBron is at 25.8 points, 10.6 assists. 7.5 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 34.8 minutes per game — on pace to be the lowest average of his career — while shooting 49.6 percent overall and 35.6 percent on 6.2 deep balls a night.
A 15-time All-NBA selection, James is leading the NBA in assists — bidding to become the first non-guard to lead the NBA in assists per game (Wilt Chamberlain led the league in total assists in 1967-68). Quietly, he finished second in the NBA two seasons ago in Cleveland, so it’s not a stretch.
Even at his age, James is ninth in the NBA and scoring, while in advanced metrics, he is fourth in the NBA in VORP and sixth in usage rate. While he may not have the raw numbers of Antetokounmpo or Harden, it’s hard to argue James hasn’t been the most valuable player on his own team … and he can make a very strong case that he’s the NBA MVP, too.