James Harden still seems a little annoyed with the media over their selection of Giannis Antetokounmpo for NBA MVP.
Harden came in second in MVP voting last season, receiving 23 percent of first-place votes, compared to 78 percent for Antetokounmpo, who won it. In August, Harden appeared on 97.9 The Box in Houston and said he felt a media-driven narrative helped propel Giannis to the award.
During an interview with GQ to promote his new shoe that was published on Thursday, Harden was asked those comments and whether a narrative has already been constructed entering the upcoming season.
“Nah, it hasn’t happened yet, it’s too early. Wait until the preseason and when the regular season starts up again. But they [the media] for sure got some teams they locked in on. We all know. That’s just what it is. You can’t tell me that a guy whose team was a 14-seed at one point last year, and ended up a four-seed with everything that was going on—so many injuries—and who went on a 32-game 30-point streak, eight 50-point games, two 60-point games in one season…and all the talk was about [Giannis Antetokounmpo]? There’s no way,” Harden told GQ.
“I just had to look at what I could do to get better for next year. You can’t pout or be mad, and the kid had an unbelievable season, so did his team. But the things I was putting up were legendary. You going to look back in 10, 15 years from now and be like, is that really true? Did that really happen? That’s some stuff they were doing back when Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] and all those other guys were playing. But I’m happy. We have a team goal of winning a championship, and I’m ready to get going now.”
Harden averaged 36.1 points per game last season, which was the 7th-highest amount ever — behind only guys like Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan. However, Harden won MVP the year before, so he could be right that the media wanted to see some variety and focused on Antetokounmpo for the award instead. The other big factor is that Giannis’ Milwaukee Bucks were the top team in the East, whereas Houston began the season poorly. Their respective records likely had a big role in the voting.
These comments may get some attention, but they’re nothing compared to what Houston’s GM said this summer about Harden.
