For the second consecutive season, Giannis Antetokounmpo is the NBA’s Most Valuable Player. After this announcement, LeBron James spoke out, showing frustration that he wasn’t chosen for the award.
“It pissed me off. 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. I’m not saying that the winner wasn’t deserving of the MVP, but that pissed me off.”
James, who hasn’t won an NBA MVP Award since the 2012-13 season, would go on to talk about how many times he has been a runner up in his career.
“I finished second a lot in my career, either from a championship, and now four times as the MVP. Like I said, I never came into the league saying ‘I’m gonna be MVP’ or ‘I’m gonna be champion,’ I’ve always said I just want to get better every single day and those things will take care of themselves. Some things are just out of my hands, some things you can’t control, but it pissed me off.”
LeBron James has certainly been great this season. Not only did he lead the Lakers to the best record in the Western Conference, but he also averaged 25.3 points, 10.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game. This is even more impressive considering this is his 17th NBA season.
However, Antetokounmpo was deserving of the award. He was the main reason the Milwaukee Bucks had the best record in the NBA while averaging 29.5 points and 13.6 rebounds per contest. Regardless, James has been under-appreciated for quite some time now, as he hasn’t won an MVP for nearly a decade although he has been deserving. Perhaps James is setting himself up for winning the award next season.
