The MVP race in the NBA is as crowded as ever this year, as the season is just about over and there are a handful of guys who have made a legitimate case for themselves. But the way JR Smith sees it, the award can only go to LeBron James.
After LeBron posted another triple-double in a win over the Detroit Pistons on Monday, Smith campaigned for James to win MVP.
“Who? The real MVP?” he said when asked for his thoughts on LeBron’s performance, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. “There’s a lot of speculation about who should get the award, but we all know who the real MVP is.”
Smith said his feelings had little to do with that particular game and more to do with what LeBron does each and every season.
“In actuality, if you really wanted to, you could give it to him every year,” he added. “I mean, the numbers, what he does for teams. You see one year removed from a team like Miami — and they probably won’t even make the playoffs — to a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since he left and then, all of the sudden, we’re a 52-win team. So I don’t think you can do that with anybody else that’s in our league right now.”
Last week, James Harden proclaimed himself the MVP and Stephen Curry later shared his thoughts on the subject. Both Harden and Curry could make a case, as could LeBron, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis.
“Not to knock anything from the other two guys (Curry and Harden),” Smith said. “They’re having great years, career years for both of them, but if you want to be realistic about it, you could give it to him every time.”
LeBron probably won’t win the MVP this year, but Smith makes a decent point. Still, you could argue that the Cavs have benefitted from adding other players — including the guy who does not think LeBron is the MVP — in addition to James. You really can’t go wrong giving the award to any of the aforementioned players.
