Anthony Davis on LeBron Losing MVP: They Kind of Choose It Before the Season

Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis said Friday that LeBron James' loss to Giannis Antetokounmpo in voting for the 2019-20 NBA Most Valuable Player Award shows there's a problem with the process.

"They kind of choose the MVP before the season even starts," Davis told reporters after the Lakers' 126-114 victory over the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

Antetokounmpo claimed the award with 85 of the 101 first-place votes. James received the other 16.

The Houston Rockets' James Harden, Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic and Los Angeles Clippers' Kawhi Leonard rounded out the top five finishers. Davis ranked sixth.

James didn't hide his frustration with the results after the Lakers' triumph in Game 1.

"Pissed me off. That's my true answer," he told reporters. "It pissed me off, because out of 101 votes, I got 16 first-place votes. That's what pissed me off more than anything. You know, not saying that the winner wasn't deserving of the MVP. But that pissed me off. And I finished second a lot in my career, either from a championship and now four times as an MVP."

Like Davis, he also questioned how much the voters pay attention to what's happening on the floor, though he admitted "Giannis had a hell of a season."

"I don't know how much we are really watching the game," James said in reference to the voting panel.

While both LeBron and Giannis had MVP-worthy seasons, Harden is the player who probably didn't receive enough attention for the league's top individual honor. He was the runaway winner in FiveThirtyEight's RAPTOR WAR metric, which attempts to identify a player's full impact.

Regardless, voters handed the award to Antetokounmpo for the second straight year, and it's hard to say he didn't earn it after leading the Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA's best regular-season record (56-17) while averaging 29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists.

The Bucks have been eliminated from the playoffs, however, so James can get the last laugh by winning his fourth career NBA title within the next few weeks.