LeBron Is Gunning For Kareem’s MVP Record
With the fact that King James will be named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player this afternoon at only 24 years old, this got me thinking: How many will LeBron have by the time he’s done playing?
The list of multiple MVP Award winners is impressive: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has six; Michael Jordan and Bill Russell have five; Wilt Chamberlain has four; Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Moses Malone have three; Bob Pettit, Karl Malone, Tim Duncan and Steve Nash have two. So with arguably 13 years left in the League, playing until he is 37 years old, how many more trophies can LeBron amass?
When I posed this question in the office, one member of the Dime crew said two at the most, while another said six more is doable. I feel like it will land somewhere in between. But one thing about the arrival of LeBron that kills me is that Kobe will most likely finish his career with only one trophy of Maurice Podoloff. And that just seems crazy.
How many MVP Awards will LeBron have by the time he’s done playing?
May 4th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
KWAME says:
how kobe only has 1 is beyond me…it is possible that lebron will be robbed like kobe has been. Also, dwight and cp3 will get some mvps i think…there are also sleepers, melo, tony parker, and brandon roy. I think LeBron will get 3
May 4th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
the_don_mega (representin' the 3 stars and a sun) says:
man… i dont care how many MVP trophies the cat gets… he sould be gunnin’ for the chip first… once he gets one… he can go and spend all the time in the world breakin’ Kareem’s record…
May 4th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
marcus the great says:
kobe only has one, but i’m more surprised that Shaq only has one. he should have at least 2 or 3. MVP voting is so shady, Lebron could finish his career with only 1 or 2
May 4th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
ERIC says:
Jordan “only” has 5 and he was the best player in the league for many years.
Shaq was the most dominating big man for most part of the decade and only has 1 himself.
Yet somehow Nash has 2 - what a joke.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
matthew says:
37? I don’t see it. I know some guys have made it that long and still been somewhat effective, but:
1) James’ game is totally dependent on his athletic superiority. Ray Allen and Reggie Miller can play at a high level for a long time because they’re shooters.
2) Nevermind 37, how many minutes will James have logged by the time he’s Kobe Bryant’s age? Probably a LOT more than Bryant has, and despite never having been seriously injured Kobe has already shown signs of slowing down.
Like Kobe and KG (breaking down as 32!) James came straight out of high school. On top of going to college, Jordan took two years off to fart around with baseball.
James may be the greatest talent of all time, but he’s likely got only 6 or 7 more years of serious MVP contention before his body start giving out on him. That’s not a lot of margin for catching Jabar.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Jay says:
How exactly has Kobe been robbed? Yeah it seems ridiculous that when a top 5 all-time player will probably have just one MVP. But then think back and you’ll realize that during his career, he had only 2 other years that deserved serious consideration of the award, and those were years in which the Lakers finished 7th in the West.
May 4th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Jay says:
@matthew
All that may be true about any other athlete… but what about LeBron makes it seem like he’s like anybody else? The guy doesn’t even seem like he can get hurt because he’s built so solid. The guy obviously has insane work ethic to keep his body like that (and some genetic mutations might have helped), so what makes you think his body will start “giving out?”
BTW, MJ’s game was almost entirely dependent on his athleticism early in his career too. We all know how that turned out.
May 4th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Skeeter McGee says:
I disagree with the notion that LeBron will start breaking down physically by the time he is 32 because he is unlike any other specimen we’ve ever seen. Comparing him to KG and Kobe is only pertinent on the basis that both of them stepped up immediately and played a lot straight out of high school. As the technology only gets better and better, the current young athletes of today will have a plethora of options to choose from in order to stay young and rejuvenated, not to mention LeBron is a gym rat and does not put anything harmful at all into his body. I think he’ll be like a T.O. and play for a while because of how he manages his body…
May 4th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Detroit Dave says:
As long as LeBron keeps his nose clean and plays well he will be in consideration… The media votes on this award and if they don’t like you then you wont score any votes. Remember a few years ago when KOBE finished like 5th in the voting, if I remember correct Brian Grant had more votes than him. They should let the coaches, GM’s and Players Vote.
LeBron earned it and deserved to win. But if he was to do something against public opinion i.e (publicly support John McCain, support the Legalization of Marijuana or marry Amy Winehouse) I’m pretty sure the NBA would change the way they market this guy.
May 4th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Yoooo says:
Kobe Took a team that started Smush parker and Kwame Brown to the playoffs. Thats an MVP season fam!
May 4th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
matthew says:
@Jay
don’t get me wrong, I’m as big a James fan as anyone. But while he is a physical freak he is still human. The sheer volume of hard minutes he’s played already, and is going to play, is going to grind his body down. Slowly, but surely. His muscles are strong, no doubt. But bones, tendons, cartilage… these are basically going to be similar in durability to every other human, but carrying a larger amount of weight and receiving regular physical punishment.
Also, like I said, one of the biggest issues is he came right out of high school and immediately began logging big minutes. When Jordan was 24 he had just completed his third NBA season and had logged fewer than 7,000 minutes. Not counting the playoffs James has at the same age already logged over 19,000 minutes! Eyeballing Bryant’s stats page, it looks like he was around 12,500 at the same age, KG around 16,000. KG is 32 and is not going to seriously challenge for a MVP again. Kobe may have one more run in him, but I doubt much more than that and he’s only 30.
Jordan also took time off, and he’s also just a different body type. James is more likely, if anything, to drift into the power forward position later in his career as he loses his quickness, where there is even more banging around. He certainly won’t be able to take the Jordan/Kobe route into perimeter player.
May 4th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
dk says:
Shaq = MVP (1) time / Kobe = MVP (1) time
= The NBA MVP voting is a bunch of fucking garbage and Im no longer following it. Wade was the worst player I have ever seen carry a team. Wade sux and so does the MVP award, BS!
May 4th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
-_- says:
The media loves LeBron, the media votes for MVP. He’s going to break the record as long as he doesn’t have to deal with rape allegations or anything like that.
May 4th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Sanpitch says:
We all know that the NBA MVP is more of a popularity contest. That being said Lebron will be in the mix for quite a few more.
Lebron deserved it this year, hands down. Nash should give one of his trophies to Shaq.
May 4th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
karizmatic says:
LBJ will probably get around 3 maybe four. I don’t expect much more than that because the MVP isn’t about who is the best player in the league it’s about a bunch of different factors and people seem to think it’s unfair to give the clearly dominant best player in the league the MVP repeatedly.
May 4th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Michael says:
If the Lakers win the Championship this year, Kobe will probably be the favorite for the MVP next year. The Cavs probably won’t win 65 games next year, where if the Lakers stay healthy can actually improve on their 66 wins. As long as Kobe has his normal great season he’ll be the frontrunner.
May 4th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
TJ says:
Age doesn’t mean a damn thing for most players. Games and minutes played is almost always more important. Playing 82 games against grown men wears down your body more than anything.
I think Lebron could play until he is 37, especially given his passing skills. That being said, no way is he going to be in MVP contention those last few years. I agree with the earlier post, he has maybe 7 years of MVP contention left. The biggest obstacle that will keep him from winning 6+ may be this stupid idea of “it’s ___’s turn” that the voters have been riding lately.
May 4th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
doc says:
Besides Shaq getting robbed by Nash once and Shaq taking one from J-kidd but it was Shaq the rest of the MVP’s deserved it to me.09-Bron killed it in the reg season and his team had the best record in the league,and makes the team chip contenders and exciting by himself.08-Kobe dicked the league all year and played like a teamate more than in the past,plus got the number 1 seed in the West over CP3 in that last game that decided the MVP.07Dirk-He averaged crazy numbers with shooting percentages nobody put up since bird and his team went 67-15 coming off getting to the chip the year before.06-Nash-He blew up in phoenix running and gunning and it was a thing of beauty so I’ll give him this one because nobody else stepped up and took it.And the one people say got robbed(Kobe) got outplayed by Nash in game 7 of the first round the day before he got it.05-This the one Nash got it because the Suns thing was new but Shaq held it down in miami this year.I could keep going but basically the point is stop bitching they usually make common sense picks and not homer shit.Saying that Bron could get 7.
May 4th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
doc says:
And for the dude who says Bron gotta be a PF when he older.How do u know?if u played ball u would know pros games evolve over the years.So u knew when Mike was 24 playing like a faster D-Wade with a broke ass J when he was 34 he was gonna be a post up technician who got fucking 20 points a game off that one shot.Dudes work on they game for a living.Bron dont even play now nowhere near how he did as a 20 year old 2nd year player.
May 4th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Mark says:
Congrats to the Cavs for having a great season, but none of these statistics on ‘youngest MVP’ or whatever really matter. He’s third on the list, and nothing more. Plus, Moses Malone got one in his fifth season, Wes in his first, both younger.
He’ll probably pick up a few MVPs dependent on how the media votes, and be on track for Hall of Fame if he keeps this up, but seriously. The former legends set precedents. It’ll take years to determine LeBron’s impact on the league, outside of generating revenue.
Oh, and about Kobe’s one MVP. That’s whatever. The boy’s got three earned CHAMPIONSHIPS, and I say earned because we got cats like Brian Scalabrine with a chip. Which… doesn’t really count.
May 4th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
doc says:
to the guy who is saying lebrons game is gonna evolve over time? lmao its 6 years he still has no jumpshot, still not good on DEFENSE besides his “highlight” blocks. More than likely he will never have a jumpshot. lebron is the same player he was since he was a rookie, just drives and draws the fouls–boring as hell
May 4th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Biglang Liko says:
still don’t get the headline that lebron is gunning for kareem’s mvps. did he really say this dime?
once Lebron wins the chip, he could do whatever he wants. MJ is the greatest not because of the 5 MVPs but from all the chips. Winning = MJ.
That said, 3 MVP awards for Lebron seems like a fair number.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:14 am
A-Slam says:
i dont see how ppl think shaq was robbed by nash, he turned a 29 win team into a 62 win team
May 5th, 2009 at 7:53 am
flavur says:
He’ll probably get 2 more MVP trophies but I think he would rather break bill russels ring collection record.
May 5th, 2009 at 9:35 am
dragonyeuw says:
The voters seems to pass the award around,so that one player doesn’t monopolize it. If the award was just given to the straight up best player, Jordan would have about 10. As for Lebron, I can see him winning 3 to 4.
As for Kobe, yeah it seems ludicris that he only has one, but he wasn’t going to get one playing with Shaq. In the 5 past years playing without Shaq, the Lakers have only been great the past 2 seasons. The voters take team record into account, which elimated Kobe during what are some of his best years. Realistically, he could have easily been MVP for 05/06, 06/07, and 07/08. And going back further, the 02/03 season when Shaq was injured part of the year, and Kobe had those 9 striaght games of 40+ points, with a 30,7,6 average, he should have won then too.
May 5th, 2009 at 9:48 am
matthew says:
@doc
I assume you’re talking about me with regards to the James-as-PF comment. I didn’t say he HAD to become a power forward, just that I thought it was a strong possibility. And I certainly didn’t mean it as a bad thing. Whats wrong with being a power forward? The reason I think he would drift into the PF position over the years is he is likely to put on more weight and lose speed. At that point he is going to have trouble guarding faster players, and he still will be an average long distance shooter.
People seem to be having a hard time imagining James aging, but it happens to every great NBA player (not to mentioned every living organism), and it usually happens sooner than people expect.
May 5th, 2009 at 11:51 am
the kid says:
regarding all this mvp talk. to get the mvp in the nba you have to play well and have your team do well too, so you need a good supporting cast. If the rest of your team is really good (kobe today) and you dont have to rise to the occasion (like lebron has to) then you probably wont get the mvp. fuck it though. it’s all about the chips.
May 5th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
SagJism says:
If Kobe hadnt had the colorado incident, he would have 3-4 but ti is just a NBA popularity contest and right now the NBA’s poster boy is LBJ. Everyone in the L knows who the best player is Kobe but likeMJ, he had to give up one to Karl Malone because the NBa got tired of giving it to him. MJ should have had at least 6 and possibly 7, like Kobe should have at least 3. NBA BS is fantastic.
May 5th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
dagwaller says:
I have no problem with Kobe only getting one MVP. I hear just as many people say, “How do Shaq/TD/Kobe only have x MVPs?! They’re in the top 3 all time at their position!” Good point. If only they didn’t all play at the same time. Or maybe they should give out more than 1 MVP a year? Shhh.
May 7th, 2009 at 9:19 am
tony says:
what did kobe do to deserve more mvp? he played his first 8 yrs w a prime shaq. that equals 0 mvps. then he missed the playoffs in 05 0 mvp. in 06 he had the 7 seed thats another 0 mvp. in 07 he had the 7th seed again thats 0 mvp. he won in 08 congrats & he didnt this yr. he has what he should have 1 mvp in 13 yrs. i think nash having 2 mvps when ai, shaq, kobe, & kg only have 1 a piece is a joke. especially when he was arguably the 3rd best player on his team
June 9th, 2009 at 2:30 am
Adhiraj Singh Panwar says:
kobe in the 05-06 season averaged 35 points per game….i mean 35 points per game….that is ridiculous….and still u dont give him the mvp….fucking bastards…..i agree to some extent that the record also counts….but when u’r scoring 35points in every game than i don’t think that there is any need to look at the aspects….like the team record,assists,rebounds,blockshot etc…..he is amongst the top10 of all time and maybe when he’llretire he’ll be among top 5 or 3….the media can go to hell….kobe should have won atleast 3 to 4 by now….but it doesent matter….for the fans he’s the best in the world….