NBA MVP: Why Lebron James Is the Only Logical Choice

The MVP award should be given to the NBA player who had the best season. Whether this player has won multiple MVP awards or if he plays for the league's most talented team should not matter.  

LeBron James is having a historic season. The eight-time all-star is averaging 27.9 points per game, 8.2 rebounds per game and 6.8 assists per game, while also shooting a career-high 55 percent from the field.

There should be no MVP debate. Barring a season ending injury or a complete drop in production, LeBron ought to win the award in a unanimous decision.

The reality of the situation is that many voters take other factors into account besides just a player’s performance in a given season.

LeBron does play for the league’s most talented team. However, he is the main reason that they are so talented. He has so many talented players around him that it should bring down his points per game and assist totals because the ball naturally won’t be in his hands as much, but because of how efficient he has been this season, that hasn’t been an issue.

Just because you’re on a talented team shouldn’t take you out of the MVP conversation. Michael Jordan’s Bulls teams were very talented, but he still had to perform and put up big numbers night after night to have the team reach their full potential.

That is exactly what LeBron James has been doing for this Miami Heat team, getting after it on a daily basis and helping his team be the best they can be.

The voters also seem reluctant to give the MVP award to a player who has already won it multiple times. It seems like they are almost trying to spread the wealth and give it to a different player each season. The fact that Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant each only won the award once is a prime example.

A more specific example of this was during the 1997 NBA season. Karl Malone had not won an MVP yet, and voters seemed to think he was due and looked at it as more of a lifetime achievement award. Michael Jordan, who had already won the award numerous times, was robbed despite having what many believed as a much better season than Malone.

The player whose been picking up a lot of steam to challenge LeBron for this season’s MVP is Chris Paul.

Paul’s addition has improved the Los Angeles Clippers from having a record of 32-50 last season, to being third in the Western Conference so far this season with a record of 19-10.

Paul has changed the Clippers culture much like Kevin Garnett did for the Celtics during the 2007 season. Just by his presence, he has made everyone around him a better player, and his unselfish style of play has become contagious.

There is no doubt that Paul has been having a tremendous season.

With Paul, unlike with LeBron, however, the main argument people have is how much better he has made the Clippers. They attribute all the Clippers success this season to Paul and discount the players around him.

It’s almost a lazy argument because instead of using statistics, Paul supporters base their debate around intangible opinions that can’t be proven.

If you use a debate like that, then LeBron James should have been undoubtedly the MVP last season. The Cavaliers went from having the best record the season before with LeBron, to having by far the league’s worst record without him.

Along the same lines, another argument LeBron detractors use is that Paul is more valuable to the Clippers than LeBron is to the Heat.

If you look at it, Paul is the Clippers' best passer, their best guy at attacking the basket and their best perimeter shooter. For the Heat, LeBron is their best passer, best defender, best post-up player, best guy at attacking the basket, best scorer in general and debatably their best rebounder.

LeBron is so talented and does so many different things for his team that it’s almost unfair to compare him to any other player.

If you put LeBron on the Clippers and Paul on the Heat, I think the Clippers would become a better team and the Heat would become worse. LeBron took the Cavaliers, a team with much less talent than the Clippers, to the NBA Finals and would make the Clippers the favorite in the Western Conference.

LeBron is basically the point guard and small forward for the Heat so trading him for Paul wouldn’t help the Heat at all. LeBron is just as good a passer as Paul and is a much defender, rebounder and scorer in general.

There is no way to deprive LeBron James of his third MVP this season. Even if you hate him for what he did to the Cavaliers, you have to give the guy his props for being by far the league’s best player this season.