Once upon a time the NBA gave out awards to who was widely regarded as the best player in its league at the time. There would be some twists and turns, but for the most part you can count on the voters to not get cute and always do the right thing.
Back when the players voted on the most valuable player award, there was a significant point of view included that we as fans could never truly understand. While Wilt Chamberlain racked up All-NBA 1st teams voted on by the media, Bill Russell was selected as the MVP by his peers.
The fans couldn’t see beyond the numbers Wilt provided, but behind those gaudy stats laid a team-killer, while Russell was the ultimate glue guy.
It wasn’t until 1981 when the voting process shifted completely away from the players and into the hands of sportswriters who grew overzealous over time. Soon narratives became the driving force behind who won, rather than play.
The fear of Larry Bird having more MVPs than Magic Johnson directly led to Michael Jordan being robbed on numerous occasions. Charles Barkley being traded to Phoenix and the ‘93 campaign being all about him overshadowed MJ’s best season. It’s voter fatigue that led to LeBron James not having the award since 2013 despite being the leagues best player in 2014, 2017, and 2018.
Now I’m not a player. I’m hardly talented in any way. I am just an asshole with a blog that likes to complain about stuff. But it’s very apparent the NBA is a bells and whistles league designed more to gin up for internet engagement rather than preserve its history.
Had the MVP vote been done within the basis of “this player was the best in the league when we casted our ballots” the winners of the MVP would have gone as follows, according to my personal biases of course:
1982: Magic⁃ Best player on an All-Time team that is slept on by the modern viewer. Magic still played defense around this time and used his 6’9 length and 7’0 wingspan to perfection garnering 2.7 steals.
1983: Bird⁃ Yeah, the year nobody talks about. Larry was the best then too. It was the last hurrah for the first era Bird Celtics, Tiny, Quinn, and M.L would either leave or have their roles significantly reduced after this year. Bird led the league in Box Score Plus-Minus that year, as he would every year from 1982-83 to 1985-86.
1984: Bird
1985: Bird
1986: Bird
1987: Bird⁃ Bird’s real masterpiece. The league had caught up to the egalitarian style the Celtics had perfected. McHale was en route to a sneaky viable MVP campaign before he broke his leg in March. The team was not deep and K.C Jones was playing his guys way too many minutes. Larry surged on and in the most contentious era in league history held back better and younger competition until he couldn’t anymore.
1988: MJ
1989: MJ
1990: MJ⁃ The reason Magic got this award was because voters couldn’t believe the Lakers won 63-games after Kareem retired. Kareem was a corpse after 1985, and by 1990 they found better options in Mychal Thompson, Vlade Divac and Sam Perkins to replace him. Jordan was better. Jordan was always better.
1991: MJ
1992: MJ
1993: MJ⁃ Barkley was everywhere during the ‘93 season. Freed from the shackles of Philadelphia, Barkley soared to new heights with an embarrassingly rich roster that would have won the title in any other year not involving Michael. Barkley’s oval shaped body sprinting down the floor like a gazelle in an open field, coupled with his court vision was very reminiscent to Giannis game. That all being said, Mike was better. He was always better.
1994: David Robinson⁃ Yup. Not only am I giving David Robinson 1995, the year everyone pretends Hakeem didn’t deserve the shaft, but I’m giving him 1994 too. Robinson had the best shot diet of any big, possessed better passing and only lost every year because his best teammates (Pre-Duncan) were Sean Elliot and Dennis Rodman.
1995: David Robinson
1996: MJ
1997: MJ
1998: MJ
1999: No One
2000: Shaq
2001: Shaq⁃ Allen Iverson is a cool guy and I respect him on so many levels. That all being said, he wasn’t better than O’Neal. Not by a long shot.
2002: Duncan
2003: Duncan
2004: KG
2005: KG⁃ Kevin Garnett produced the exact same numbers from his MVP campaign and the only reason the team got worse was because of the roster succumbing to injuries. Garnett deserved that award.
2006: LeBron⁃ Could be chalked up to hindsight, but LeBron already was the leagues No. 1 guy. I only knock him off in ‘07 for Dirk because he won 67-games with Jason Terry as his 2nd best player.
2007: Dirk
2008: LeBron
2009: LeBron
2010: LeBron
2011: Wade
— LeBron was disappointing that year. Wade outshined and outplayed him. The best two-guard in the league from 2008 to 2011, Wade did more to deserve that award than LBJ.
2012: LeBron
2013: LeBron
2014: LeBron
2015: Steph
2016: Steph
2017: LeBron
2018: LeBron
2019: Harden
2020: Giannis
2021: Jokic
2022: Jokic
2023: Jokic⁃ “The Three-Peat dies with Larry” my ass!
Good Time Basketball 