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NBA: 25 players who should have won MVP in retrospect

By Hans Themistode

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 05: NBA Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson speaks during the USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy Player of the Year press conference prior to the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 5, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 05: NBA Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson speaks during the USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy Player of the Year press conference prior to the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 5, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images) /
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Steve Nash
Steve Nash (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

NBA: 25 players who should have won MVP in retrospect: 24. Steve Nash, 2006-07

Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks rolled through the league during the 2006-2007 season. It isn’t every day that a team can rack up 67 wins with only 15 losses. But while they collectively dominated, Nowitzki didn’t put together an otherworldly season that should have netted him the league’s most valuable player award. On the year, the big German averaged 24.6 points, 8.9 rebounds on 50.2 percent from the field to go along with 41.6 percent from three and 90.4 from the charity stripe.

We won’t get into what happened to them in the playoffs because that’s beyond the point. While he was great his numbers didn’t jump off the page. Nowitzki was simply a beneficiary of a dominant overall season. Although him taking home the award wasn’t entirely egregious, Steve Nash should have been the rightful winner.

The NBA has a huge problem. Voters of the award oftentimes suffer from “voter fatigue” meaning, if one player takes home the same trophy on several occasions, eventually, they’ll get tired of voting for him. That was exactly what happened to Nash. For the past two seasons, Nash walked away with the MVP award at the end of the year. During the 2006-07 season, Nash’s numbers were virtually identical to his MVP seasons, 18.8 points per game to go along with a league-leading 11.6 assist every night. He also shot 53.2 percent from the field, 45.5 from three and fell excruciatingly short of hitting 90 from the free-throw line by tallying 89.9.

Nash also led the Suns to 61 wins on the year as well. There was no reason why Nash shouldn’t have been given his third straight MVP. Essentially, media voters simply got tired of voting for him. And considering what happened to Nowitzki and those Mavericks in the first round of those playoffs, those same voters placed their heads down in shame.