Mar 29, 2018
The MVP Debate - LeBron James or James Harden?
Like most years, there are plenty of names you could consider as a MVP candidate, but when it comes down to it, the race is really between LeBron James and James Harden. So who do you think should win the most prestigious award in the Association? Let's take a closer look.
TSN.ca Staff
Like most years, there are plenty of names you could consider as a MVP candidate, but when it comes down to it, the race is really between LeBron James and James Harden. So who do you think should win the most prestigious award in the Association? Let's take a closer look.
The Case for LeBron James
Position: Shooting Guard/Power Forward/Small Forward
Age: 33
Years in NBA: 14
Career MVPs: 4
NBA Titles: 3
All-Star Appearances: 14
Team Record: 45-30, third in Eastern Conference
2017-18 Stats
| Games | Win Shares | PPG | RPG | APG | FG% | 3P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75 | 12.9 | 27.6 | 8.6 | 9.1 | 54.7 | 36.5 |
If you ask this Cleveland Cavaliers superstar, there's no question in his mind who should be named MVP at the end of the season.
"I would vote for me," James told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "The body of work, how I'm doing it, what's been happening with our team all year long, how we've got so many injuries and things of that nature, guys in and out, to be able to still keep this thing afloat, I definitely would vote me."
James backed up those words with one of his best performances of the season Wednesday night, scoring 41 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists as the Cavs beat the Charlotte Hornets 118-105.
Some might view his comments as arrogant, but the truth is, if James wasn't on this team, the Cavs would probably be in the basement of the Eastern Conference.
For a championship contender, Cleveland has kind of been a mess this season. There have been endless rumours of in-fighting, mostly concerning power forward Kevin Love, and they traded nearly half of their roster at the deadline, most notably sending All-Star off-season pickup Isaiah Thomas to the Los Angeles Lakers after just 15 games with the team. Most recently, the Cavaliers are without a head coach as Tyronn Lue has taken a leave of absence to deal with health issues.
All of these troubles would cause most teams to crumble.
However, LeBron has performed like the future Hall of Famer he is the whole time and has the Cavs playing well since the deadline with a 14-8 record.
The Case for James Harden
Position: Shooting Guard/Point Guard
Age: 28
Years in NBA: 8
Career MVPs: 0
NBA Titles: 0
All-Star Appearances: 6
Team Record: 61-14, first in NBA
2017-18 Stats
| Games | Win Shares | PPG | RPG | APG | FG% | 3P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66 | 14.4 | 30.7 | 5.4 | 8.7 | 44.8 | 36.7 |
Harden is the best player on the best team in the NBA this season. This statement alone might be enough to give the 28-year-old his first MVP award of his career.
The Houston Rockets were considered legit contenders going into this season after picking up star point guard Chris Paul in the summer. They haven't disapointed. Houston holds a comfortable 6.5 game lead over the defending champion Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference thanks to posting a 27-1 record over their last 28 contests.
Harden, the 2009 third-overall pick, leads the league in points per game with 30.7 and has almost two more win shares than James.
Sure the Rockets would probably still be in the playoff conversation if Harden wasn't on the team, but there's no chance they would have a shot at taking out the Warriors.
It's safe to say the Rockets will go as far as Harden takes them this spring.
James vs. Harden
