2 Lakers Number Among Expert's Top 15 Early Picks For 2024 MVP Candidates

As the 2023-2024 NBA season gets underway, NBA.com's Michael C. Wright published a new piece unpacking his top 15 choices for MVP this season (unranked).

To nobody's surprise, two of your Los Angeles Lakers are featured on the list: LeBron James, and Anthony Davis.

Here's what Wright had to say about James:

"Even in his 21st season, James remains a legitimate MVP candidate and displayed as much in leading the Lakers in scoring in the season opener. James accomplished the feat on a scaled-back workload (29 minutes) and finished with the best plus-minus (plus-7) of any of the Lakers’ starters."

Wright's analysis about LeBron's capability is definitely true, but his MVP odds have one caveat. His minutes restriction would likely bar him from putting up the necessary counting stats to stay competitive with players like Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. On a per-minute basis, James could easily have the best stats in the league and put a nice campaign together, but aggregately, he won't.

Here's his bit on Davis:

"The Lakers need Davis to consistently excel in the role of No. 1 option on offense. He looked the part in the first half Tuesday with 17 points before disappearing the last two quarters. That can’t happen with the Lakers trying to keep LeBron James’ minutes down this season."

Wright is certainly accurate about Davis needing to "consistently excel in the role of a No. 1 option on offense," as the Lakers' hopes of staying competitive with the top offenses in the league require creation and consistency beyond LeBron. AD's MVP hopes are greatly strengthened by his defensive prowess, but in order for him to win, he'd need to improve his scoring output to north of 30 points per game on good efficiency, all while the Lakers are a top seed.

Both LA superstars are definitely MVP candidates, their tendency to miss time and individual concerns (minutes restriction for LeBron, consistency for AD) definitely caps their odds.

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