Giannis Antetokounmpo seems like a lock to win this year’s NBA MVP, but LeBron James put together a weekend that has his teammates thinking he deserves the honor. At least Anthony Davis said so and made a compelling case on Sunday.
James scored 37 points with 8 rebounds and 8 assists in Friday’s 10-point win over Milwaukee. Then he scored 28 points in Sunday’s 9-point win over the LA Clippers. Two games before that, he had a triple-double in a win over the Pelicans where he went head-to-head with Zion Williamson.
The Lakers’ recent strong play has them looking like the favorite to win the NBA championship if they keep it up, and has Davis saying James deserves MVP.
“At 35, what this [expletive] is doing is incredible. He is the MVP,” Davis told Yahoo’s Chris Haynes. “That’s no disrespect to that [expletive] in Milwaukee. Giannis is having a hell of a year, but if you think about what the most valuable player means, that’s ’Bron to us. Look at our numbers when he’s off the floor. He’s the MVP.”
The regular season MVP argument is different from the “still the best player in the league when he wants to be” argument. Antetokounmpo is averaging 29.6 points and 13.7 rebounds per game this season on 54.7 percent shooting. Comparatively, James is averaging 25.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and a league-high 10.7 assists per game. His surging Lakers are now 49-13 and closing in on the 53-11 Bucks for the best record in the league.
Giannis is still the MVP, but if James plays this well over the next three months, he’ll end up with the most coveted trophy — a championship.
