Nov 13, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) reacts against the New York Knicks during the third quarter of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
AM: What sort of season are you expecting from LeBron James this year? He often takes not winning MVP personally, while obviously the urgency for him to win in Cleveland is greater than ever this year too.
JH: Man, it’s going to take a lot for me to admit this, so just give me a moment. Ignore any shallow breathing you hear.
…
Okay, I’m ready: I don’t think LeBron is going to win any more MVPs. Holy crap, I think my throat is on fire. Ugh, that’s such a horrible sentence. Forgive me, for I have sinned. Yuck.
Seriously though, I think we’ve finally come to the point where ‘Bron realizes he doesn’t need to and shouldn’t focus on winning MVP. Does that mean he can’t win it? No. If you watched last season’s Finals, you know that he can still do whatever he wants to on the court when he pours all of his effort into it.
But that’s just it: he can’t pour his effort into it for all 82 games, and being on the wrong side of 30, he shouldn’t try.
It would be amazing and a lot of fun if LeBron managed to rack up another MVP or two, since he’d be pushing his way into even more elite company (only players with more than four MVPs are: MJ (5), Russell (5) and Kareem (6)), but he’s already got four trophies sitting at home in a cabinet somewhere.
I mean, no one is going to say that Kobe isn’t a top 10 player all-time just because he’s only got one MVP trophy, right? There’s just no reason any longer for James to worry about a prize that at this point in his career seems trivial. Leave the MVP race to Curry, Durant and other young-bloods. Placing focus on health is now and will forevermore be the main objective that is the narrow path to winning a title during the next few years.
That said, ‘Bron will be in the MVP race all season by nature of his game and moniker. The Cavs are the best team in the East and it’s hard to see them finishing outside the first or second seed. James is hyper-competitive, so you know he’d love to bring home another MVP award. But even more than that, he’d love to hold the Larry O’Brien trophy at least once more, and for the first time in the city of Cleveland.
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