LeBron James: Heat Star Won't Win MVP with Dwyane Wade Healthy

LeBron James has been playing like an MVP this season, but only when Dwyane Wade isn’t active because of injury.

This isn’t a new revelation for the Miami Heat either.

Over the past two seasons, since the Big Three was formed with LeBron, Wade and Chris Bosh down in South Beach, James averaged 35 points per 40 minutes with Dwyane on the bench.

With Wade on the floor that number drops nearly 10 points, down to 25.2 per 40.

Tom Haberstroh found these figures and even delved a little deeper, using John Hollinger’s PER to further demonstrate how amazing LBJ has been without his sidekick.

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With Wade, LeBron's PER stands at 25.3. Without him on the court, it is a mind-boggling 34.9. Remember, the typical NBA player posts a 15.0 PER, and the best that Michael Jordan ever put together was a 31.7 figure. In fact, if we just look at LeBron's PER this season without Wade, it checks out at 38.3, which nearly breaks the PER machine.

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Any casual fan watching a Heat game can see the difference.

Wade uses a ton of possessions to get his points, and is averaging just 19.6 points in 35.1 minutes, well below his 2010-11 averages of 25.5 points in 37.1 minutes.

That leaves a lot less for LeBron to work with, and this is why he can never become an MVP while Wade is healthy.

Sure, the Heat are a more complete squad with both on the floor, but the MVP award generally goes to individual players who carry their teams.

Last year, Derrick Rose got the nod for lifting the Chicago Bulls to new heights. LeBron won the previous two for his outstanding body of work on the Cavaliers, while getting little help from his ineffective teammates.

Beyond that, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash round out list of the past seven MVPs and all were without question the lone superstar on their team the year in which they won.

LeBron still has the ability to be the MVP as evidenced by his 33-point, 10-assist, 5-rebound explosion in a comeback victory over the Spurs, but more often than not, those numbers aren’t good enough and public opinion isn’t in his favor with Wade on the floor.