3 key reasons why Ja Morant could win MVP this season
By Luke Duffy
Key reasons why Ja Morant could win MVP this season: 2. Voter fatigue
Morant looks to have arrived at a time when there is most certainly a gap in the market for a new face in the MVP conversation. Most thought that Luka Doncic would occupy that role, but a mix of injuries, appearing out of shape to start the season, and inconsistencies with the Dallas Mavericks mean it will be another year at least before he’s taken seriously in the conversation.
Beyond younger guys like Doncic and Trae Young not having the kind of all-around seasons (they might be playing great, but their teams aren’t elite) that warrant inclusion, voter fatigue is a very real phenomenon that cannot be discounted. Of the remaining real candidates, each of them has reason to believe they won’t get the award at the end of the season.
Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets should be getting much more love than he already is. He is quite literally the reigning MVP of the league! But his incredible passing exploits and ability to carry an injured Nuggets roster seem lost on most. Some thought of him as an underwhelming choice last year, the guy who got it because Joel Embiid missed too many games. He won’t get selected again anytime soon.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is close to the level that saw him win back-to-back MVPs in the years preceding Jokic, yet he is not getting talked about enough either. This is the strangeness of voter fatigue in action. He’s won multiple MVPs, was a Defensive Player of the Year in one of those seasons, too, won the title last year, and was even named Finals MVP.
Antetokounmpo has done it all, and he’s done it all very recently, so we take the greatness for granted. It was the same thing that cursed LeBron James for much of the last decade. Linking into the previous point, James was probably the better player the year Rose won MVP. The issue? James had won it the two previous seasons and would win it the next two after Rose.
Really, James should have been MVP for about nine of the last 12 years, but it doesn’t work that way. Stephen Curry might be the most legitimate threat to Morant’s run because he also has a strong narrative. The Golden State Warriors are back, they’ll be a force in the postseason, and he broke the three-point scoring record. They’ve slumped a bit recently, though, opening the door for Morant.