While the Milwaukee Bucks small forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has been favored most of the season to win back-to-back MVPs, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers has made his case for the award:
“As far as the MVP race, I think that I’ve shown what I’m capable of doing, not only individually but from a team’s perspective, us being number one in the West,” James said during the Lakers’ zoom call with reporters inside the NBA Bubble.
LeBron also said he silenced a lot of critics who had questioned how he would perform if he ever left the Eastern Conference for the Western Conference:
“There was a lot of conversation about, ‘LeBron can do those things in the East, but if he ever came to the West, what could he do?’ So I heard all of that,” James said. “To be able to have our team at the top of the Western Conference and playing the way that we were playing at that time and the way I was playing, it’s definitely a good feeling.”
Hear why veteran sports media personality Chris Broussard believes LeBron’s argument is irrelevant when it comes to the MVP race against Antetokounmpo:
In 60 games so far this season, James is averaging 25.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 0.4 blocks and 10.6 assists per game, while shooting at 49.8 percent from the floor and 34.9 percent from deep.
Meanwhile, Antetokounmpo is averaging 29.6 points, 13.7 rebounds, 1.0 steal, 1.0 block and 5.8 assists per game, while shooting at 54.7 percent from the field and 30.6 percent from three in 57 games.
This season’s MVP will be determined based on games played up to when the league was suspended in March.
