Kobe Bryant vs. Andrew Bynum: Who Is the Los Angeles Lakers' MVP?

When your name is brought up in trade talks, you can do two things. You can either complain your way into getting traded out of town or you can play better than the man you're being rumored to being traded for. Andrew Bynum has apparently chosen the latter track. Through the three games since his return from suspension Bynum has averaged 22.7 points and 17.0 boards. 

You can't help but wonder if after each performance he asks Lakers exec, Jim Buss, "How do you like me now?"

In fact, he's playing so well that he has some people wondering if it's time for Kobe Bryant to start handing over the reigns to Bynum. 

This brings up the question, who is the Lakers MVP now? It brings a new facet to the debate of the meaning of value. Traditionally the argument has been does valuable mean "best" or "most important"?

Right now, statistically, it's a valid argument that Bynum is performing better than Bryant. It's not that Bryant is playing that bad though, especially when you consider that he has a torn ligament in his wrist. Bryant is averaging 26.8 points, 6.3 boards and 6.0 assists. Bryant has never averaged six boards and six assists in his NBA career. 

Value includes a number intangibles though, too. It's not just about who is the "best" player. It's about leadership. It's about having that nebulous characteristic that allows your teammates to believe in you. It's something earned not just by numbers, but by maturity. 

It's not something that you get by throwing cheap fouls and diminutive point guards in the postseason and ripping off your shirt on the way to the sidelines. 

Value is something that comes year after year, developing your game and inspiring not just your teammates with your work ethic, but the entire league.

It's not something you get by showing up to training camp out of shape.

In many ways Andrew Bynum is 24 going on 18 and Kobe Bryant is 33 going on 60 (in terms of maturity, not play). Bynum is, at times, childish. Bryant has become an elder statesman of the league. He espouses wisdom in interviews in a manner reminiscent of Bill Russell.

It's not that Bryant hasn't had his own brushes with immaturity in the past, but it's worth saying that those are in the past. He's at a stage in his career where he exudes maturity now. 

Value is about much more than play. Kobe was in a unique position to make new head coach Mike Brown's job easy or impossible. Time and again, he has acted in a way opposite of how he would have acted years ago. 

When Brown called him out, he defended Brown because Brown was right. That's maturity. It's something Bryant has and Bynum doesn't. 

While the improved play of Bynum justifiably has Laker fans daydreaming about a return to the Finals, it's premature to start making him the MVP of the Lakers. While it might be fair to say he's L.A.'s best player now, he needs to have more than his game grow before he supplants Kobe in value.