By: Nick LaPorte, 3/9/2020
For pretty much the entire season, Giannis Antetokounmpo has been the best player in basketball. His team has dominated the East, and passed tests against every other contender. Heading into March, the Bucks had won 52/60 possible games, a wining percentage of roughly 87%. That’s stupid good, The 2016 Warriors, the most successful regular season team ever, won 89% of their games. Michael Jordan’s 1996 Bulls won about 88% of their games. So Giannis was on track for history; at that point, they had a realistic shot at 70 wins, something only the Warriors and Bulls have achieved. We’re talking about something only 2 teams did, and the Bulls with Jordan and the Warriors with Steph Curry both saw their superstar win the MVP that year. So how could Lebron be in the discussion?
Well, it’s simple. First, Lebron has the narrative surrounding him for the first time this year. Look no further than last week’s topics of discussion on every major media outlet: is Lebron making this an MVP race? At the time, most argued that Giannis was the runaway favorite. Not two weeks ago, most sports books had Giannis as -600 or higher favorited to win the award. But Lebron has slid his way back into the race, sitting around 4/1 odds and it’s because this past weekend was like a dream for the Lakers. First, they handled Giannis and the Bucks Friday night, winning 113-103 on their home floor. Giannis managed 32 points and 11 rebounds, but shot just 10-21 and 1-6 from three, an uncharacteristically bad shooting night. Lebron guarded him at times, and with the King on him Giannis was unable to do what makes him successful; namely get to the rim for high-percentage shots. It’s no secret Giannis’ magic runs thinner when you force him to shoot jumpers. So that’s exactly what the Lakers did.
Giannis can’t do it all himself, but on Friday that was his task. Fellow All-Star teammate Khris Middleton only managed 12 points, and for much of the game Brook Lopez, the reinvented 3-and-D center machine did nothing for the Bucks. When facing a team like the Lakers, there’s not a lot you can do. But Lopez has to be better, because the Lakers have the best big-man rotation in the NBA. Anthony Davis is arguably an MVP-contender in his own right, and the Lakers duo of Lebron and AD was too much for Milwaukee to handle. Should one game decide an MVP race? Of course not. But in perhaps the biggest game of the season for either squad to that point, the Lakers acquitted themselves well while the Bucks looked a little short. If the teams meet in the NBA Finals, the Lakers realistically would be the favorite. And that’s no discredit to the Bucks.
In the days since that game, Lebron has bolstered his MVP case even more. A dominating 4th quarter to beat the Clippers left the Lakers with 2 incredible wins in 3 days. The Bucks are the best team in the NBA, but Lebron beat them. The Clippers were the preseason favorites, and have the reigning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, and Lebron beat them. When Lebron takes over in the 4th quarter, there’s no answer. Dread it, run from it, Lebron arrived all the same, and the 2 best players in the NBA (Giannis and Leonard) had no answer. How quickly we’ve forgotten what Lebron has done since 2010: 8 straight NBA Finals appearances before last year and 3 championships. Leonard has 2, but only last year became a legitimate MVP threat. Giannis is the reigning MVP, but has never gone past the ECF. Lebron is the class of the NBA, the best player of his generation and in my eyes, best ever. He’s passed test after test en route to an illustrious career, and at age 35, still regularly beats players younger and “better” than him.
The fact is, Lebron is in the final stretch of his career. He’s contracted for 2 more seasons with the Lakers and he will be 37-38 years old next time he’s a free agent. He has 15,000 more minutes on his body than Jordan did at this stage per Ryen Russillo on the Bill Simmons podcast, and the only 2 players ever to stay productive with this workload were Kareem Abdul-Jabar and Karl Malone. And as Ryen pointed out, the pace is much faster now than it was in Malone’s heyday. And unlike those two dominant big men, Lebron is essentially running the offense night after night. This level of production at his age is insane, and it’s reasonable to wonder if he will be able to do it for a few more years. The end comes for everyone. Kobe was still a superstar in 2012, until he wasn’t. Jordan was the GOAT, coming off 6 championships in 8 years, wi no signs of slowing down until he did. Steve Nash had his best season since his early MVP years in 2011, and then he broke down. Tim Duncan was the probably the best player on the 2014 Spurs, who won the championship, and he couldn’t do it for 2 more years. Larry Bird was arguably the best player of his era, alongside Magic Johnson, before health and injuries cut both their careers short. Even Malone and Kareem couldn’t play forever.
For now, though, we have to accept that Lebron is without comparison. We don’t know what will happen because there’s no case of someone playing as good as he is for as long as he has at this position. Jordan’s peak ended around age 34, with way less miles and way less wear and tear. Most guys’ prime ends in their early 30s, and lately even before that. And Lebron himself has said he expects to defer to Anthony Davis more, transitioning into more of a Supporting Actor role. But in 2020, this year, Lebron is still the best player in the NBA. He should have more MVPs, probably 2011 and 2015 at the very least. But this year, he’s thrust himself back into the spotlight and made the MVP race more interesting. Giannis will now miss at least a few games after a knee injury Friday night, and the Lakers and Bucks are only separated by 2 games. The Lakers are surging and the Bucks are slipping, winners of just 3 of their last 6. The Lakers meanwhile are 9-1 in their past 10 games, and have passed the eye test in regards to “best team”. No team is better than the Lakers against the top teams either: their 65% winning percentage is better than even the Bucks.
This MVP race is not wrapped up like some may think. Lebron is in the discussion and the narrative is starting to build. In 2011, Derrick Rose won the MVP award because voters liked his story. In 2016, Russell Westbrook won the MVP award, not only because of his triple double average but because they liked how he kept the team competitive after Kevin Durant left. Giannis should end up with the award but he has a few factors working against him. First, voter fatigue. They don’t like awarding it to a player repeatedly; look no further than 2011-2018 Lebron. Second, Giannis is hurt, and games missed impacts the vote significantly. But most important of all, Lebron has the best story right now. And unlike Bran Stark in the stupid Game of Thrones finale, sometimes the best story is enough to win the MVP, and we should be ok with that. Lebron has built a resume to contend with the absolute all-time greats in sports history, and 2020 is just another solid bullet point.
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