With His Legacy Calling, LeBron James Is Taking Aim at Another MVP Award

LOS ANGELES — Any activity on the meter assessing the greatest player of all time must move at a glacial pace.

History is that long, greatness is that rich—and trying to gain ground on Michael Jordan's iconic brand or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's pile of points is like trying to shake the legs of pedestals long since locked down in perpetuity.

What LeBron James did last spring, though, left an indelible mark.

Wherever you had him among the game's greatest players ever, he earned himself a promotion by upsetting the game's greatest regular-season team ever in such an improbable way, thus winning his third NBA championship.

James' mission this regular season, according to a league source, was to build on that still-developing legacy. In tangible goals, he was seeking to earn a fifth NBA MVP that would help him compare to Jordan (five), Bill Russell (five) and Abdul-Jabbar (six).

And despite playing in an era of contenders coasting through the regular season and with rest days in vogue, James has put together another MVP-caliber season. Through 63 games, he is averaging career highs in assists, rebounds and three-pointers made per game all while playing 37.6 minutes per game (the only guy averaging more, Kyle Lowry, succumbed to injury last month). He has reluctantly sat out for rest reasons five times with another game missed with illness (and the Cavaliers went 0-6 in those games).

While it would be understandable at this stage for James to be a little complacent, especially in the regular season, he has been true to the game and loyal to building his legend.

In so doing, he has moved closer—again—to being the G.O.A.T., with plenty more time to go.

History hasn't been his only inspiration, to be honest.

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Stephen Curry's ascent and consecutive MVP honors in 2015 and '16 rankled James more than he let on publicly. Curry's revolutionary game was most definitely affecting James' legacy, and James knew it.

Placed in the context of his remarkable career, James in early 2016 was as irrelevant as we've ever known him. We're talking about a guy whose every move has been witnessed as far back as high school…but wound up lagging awfully far behind Curry in popularity.

The 2015-16 All-Star fan balloting saw Curry get 1,604,325 votes to James' 1,089,206. An outgoing Kobe Bryant led the league in 2015-16 and further diminished James with 1,891,614.

It was a whopping increase in margin from 2014-15, when Curry had already edged James as top vote-getter. But then came the 2016 NBA Finals, with James rising up dramatically after being written off, astounding us in just the way we dream our heroes and villains will refuse to die.

And guess who was back as the leader in 2016-17 All-Star fan-balloting? James, with 1,893,751 votes, more than Curry's 1,848,121.

Reclaiming the MVP this season is a similar trick James thought he could pull off—and it definitely would add to his legacy.

James expected Curry to dial it back to conserve energy this season, and he has. And Curry's personal numbers were sure to go down with Kevin Durant as a teammate, and they have. The MVP opportunity figured to be there for James if he gave it a real effort, which was still asking a lot from him in his 14^th NBA season.

Yet James has found the energy to have a season comparably brilliant to all his others. It's only because LeBron's season looks so much like the one before it, and the one before that, and so on, that this doesn't feel like the kind of breakthrough season for which James Harden and Russell Westbrook are being celebrated.

Alonzo Adams/Associated Press

Meanwhile, James is doing everything he can to win—from pressuring his general manager for roster upgrades to hiking his three-point percentage from 30.9 last season to 38.5 this year.

That James is the Cavs' MVP is clear, although coach Tyronn Lue told Bleacher Report before the season that "it's like it's the same" as the Lakers title team he was once a part of that had an established Shaquille O'Neal and a rising Bryant in 2001.

Kyrie Irving, coming off his hero shot in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, has been ready and eager to assert himself more for the Cavaliers—but even those who think the earth is flat would never dare suggest this is Irving's team. Not when the Cavaliers are a plus-9.3 in net rating (per NBA.com) when LeBron is on the floor and a minus-8.7 when he is off.

Still, in part to allow for Irving's growth, James is passing more, even though it remains conceivable that James, 32, could eclipse Abdul-Jabbar as the league's scoring king someday. For now, James is 114 points away from O'Neal for seventh on the all-time list, but James' commitment to directing the Cavs offense this season is why his next double-double will already tie his single-season high of 36 set back in 2012-13.

We're almost four full seasons removed from his last MVP campaign in 2012-13, and when Lue on Sunday called James "the best player in the world," and we all still nodded along.

Consistency and durability aren't sexy, but they are musts in building any real legend. Some of it is luck; a lot more of it is preparing mentally and physically to keep your expectations of yourself above anyone else's.

Even as the candidacies of Westbrook, Harden and even Kawhi Leonard mean that James has become a long shot to get that fifth MVP this season, he still hasn't relaxed. He's still challenging Lue when he chooses to rest him, as he did Saturday night against the Clippers.

Jason Miller/Getty Images

"I wanted to play last night, but my coach felt like it was best that I didn't play last night," James said at Staples Center Sunday night. "So I'm going to go with my coach, and he's never steered me wrong."

James can't help it if you don't comprehend how much more dedicated he has been than his peers in this day and age.

Yes, James sat out ABC's showcase game while healthy because Lue prefers the Cavs use James' court time to develop pre-playoff rhythm with Irving and Kevin Love, who were being rested for injury recovery. Yes, other guys in the NCAA tournament offered a stark contrast that day by crying when they weren't getting to play anymore.

But James has nothing whatsoever to apologize for regarding his effort this season.

After the Cavaliers beat the Lakers on Sunday night, James soaked his feet in ice water for a long time before shuffling off to the shower and taking his time going from the towel to fully dressed. His sons passed the time in the Staples Center hallway by working on their water-bottle flipping next to Khloe Kardashian, who left with boyfriend Tristan Thompson long before James came out.

This season has been more than just another line in LeBron's career longevity. It has been a testament to how determined he is to make the most of his natural gifts—which moves him rightfully into the G.O.A.T. discussion.

For all his efforts, he likely will not win this MVP. He might wind up losing this NBA championship to the Warriors' superteam, too.

And he probably will never overcome the fact that Jordan went undefeated in NBA Finals.

But let it be said that LeBron is still trying to win everything he can—because when you measure yourself against your own legacy and those for whom there are statues, every day counts toward a legacy of greatness.

Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.