LeBron James On Getting Such Few First-Place MVP Votes: 'It Pissed Me Off'
LeBron James didn't try to hide his frustration.
After tweaking his game to lead the league in assists, after orchestrating the offense for the top team in the Western Conference and after regularly locking down the best players on opposing teams, he felt insulted.
James only received 16 of 101 first-place votes in his second-place finish for the Most Valuable Player award, behind Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had 85 first-place votes.
"Pissed me off," James said after the Lakers' 126-114 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of their Western Conference Finals series on Friday. "That's my true answer. It pissed me off because out of 101 votes, I got 16 first-place votes. That's what pissed me off more than anything. Not saying the winner wasn't deserving of the MVP. But that pissed me off. I finished second a lot in my career, either from a championship and now four times as an MVP. Like I said, I never came into this league saying, let me be MVP or be a champion. I always said I just want to get better and better every single day. And those things will take care of itself. There are some things that are just out of my hands and some things you can't control. But it pissed me off."
A reporter then asked James if he surprised himself by his strong reaction.
"No," he said.
James, however, added that he will recover from this slight.
Soon, in fact.
After all, he's led the Lakers to their first appearance in the Western Conference Finals since 2010, while the Bucks were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Miami Heat, 4-1.
"I mean, I'm fine," James said. "Don't get it twisted. I'm going back to my room. I'm perfectly fine. We're 1-0 in the Western Conference Finals. I'm absolutely fine. So don't — like I was pissed off at the reaction earlier when I saw it. I'm absolutely great now. I'm going back to my room, drink some wine and sleep very well tonight. Let's not get it twisted. I'm great. It's just the voting scale is a little weird to me sometimes."
James said the criteria for awards has changed over the course of his career.
And he went on to point out a few examples of things that didn't quite add up.
"[In] 2012-13, I had a chance to be Defensive Player of the Year and also MVP in the same season," he said. "And that year [Marc] Gasol was [voted] Defensive Player of the Year, but he made Second Team All-Defense, okay. So that doesn't make sense. It's like being MVP of the league, but you make Second Team All-NBA. That's when I really started to look at things kind of like differently. I was like, how does that even make any sense? It's like being Rookie of the Year, but you make Second Team All-Rookie.
"And then I looked at the Most Improved this year, and rightfully so Brandon Ingram was amazing and I thought he should have won it. But did you see the vote that Devonte' Graham got? He averaged four points last year compared to 17 and a half. If that's not improving, what is? And it's a weird thing sometimes that you just have — I don't know how much we are really watching the game of basketball or are we just in the narration mode, the narrative."
Anthony Davis agreed that the MVP voting was disturbingly lopsided, adding that it seems as though voters "choose the MVP before the season even starts."
Antetokounmpo, 25, averaged 29.6 points, 13.7 rebounds and 5.8 assists in games through March 11, the cut off for the award. He had the highest player efficiency rating in league history at 31.86.
James, 35, averaged 25.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and a league-leading 10.6 assists. He helped the Lakers reach the postseason for the first time since 2013.
"He deserves it," Davis said of James. "What he's been able to do for our team, the things he's been doing individually, on a consistent basis, night-in, night-out, just it's not even a question who deserves it. You know, year 17, doing what he's doing."
Davis was then asked if James, a four-time MVP and three-time NBA champion, is overlooked because he's been so good for so long.
"I don't want to say he's overlooked," Davis said. "He's the best player in the league. I mean, every headline is about LeBron James, and everybody talks about what he's done. But you look at this year what he's able to accomplish, regular season and playoffs, it was — for me it was clear-cut that he was the MVP."
Davis added that he'd like to see the voting system tweaked.
Currently, the awards are decided by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada.
Davis would like people closer to the action to have a say.
"I think we can get the players more involved for sure," Davis said. "We’re actually the ones who are out there playing against these guys. And if you look around the league, a lot of the players say LeBron should be MVP. These guys go up against him night-in and night-out and see what he brings to the table and what his value is to our team. So I think the players for sure should get involved in all the votes."
