Why Kevin Durant Did Not Win The MVP Award

Lebron James won his second consecutive MVP Award, and there really was no doubt that he was going to win. Although Kevin Durant made a push for the award, overtaking James for the scoring title, there's a few reasons why James came out on top and Durant did not. 

James is a superior athlete to Durant, especially if you consider that both play the same position. James has at least 20 pounds on Durant, seeing how James is 6'8 250 and Durant is 6'9 230.

One of the reasons why Durant did not win the MVP award was because of his inability to handle the basketball. Russell Westbrook is the point guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder and his athleticism is what allows Durant too be so dangerous, especially from the three point line.

Not too take anything away from Durant, but he just doesn't have the ball handling ability yet. If he's going to win the MVP award he's going to have to be a more willing passer because averaging just 2.8 assists is way too low of a number especially for a small forward.

James is pretty much the point guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He is the man that on nearly every possession for the Cavs is going to be handling the ball. With his size and his ball handling ability he can get to pretty much any spot on the court and his assists numbers prove this he averaged 8.6 assists for the season. 

The other reason why Durant was not able to pick up the award is the fact that he's still needs to improve defensively. This year he did improve his defense and with his wingspan he could definitely become an above average defender.

While James is not a lockdown defender by any stretch of the imagination, he is an above average defender who can use his size to keep his man from getting good position on him. 

There are fans who like to look at stats for comparing players. In a comment that I responded to, there was a list of categories that Durant was supposedly better then James in. Durant was the better scorer, better rebounder, higher free throw percentage, higher three point percentage, more steals, more blocks, and he had less turnovers. 

James averaged 29.7 points, 8.6 assists, 7.3 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 1 block, 3.4 turnovers, on 50.3 percent shooting, 33.3 percent from beyond the arc, and 76.7 percent from the free throw line. 

Durant on the other hand averaged 30.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.4 steals, 1 block, 3.3 turnovers, on 47.6 percent shooting, 36.5 percent from three, and 90 percent from the free throw line. 

In the categories they were pretty much all close. James averaged more assists, more steals, and had a higher shooting percentage. While Durant had the edge in points, rebounds, three point shooting, and free throw shooting. 

As for the points, rebounds, steals, blocks, and turnovers the stats for each player were practically the same. But, again differential between assists is what got James the award. 

When each player puts up similar stats, there's one category that is completely dominated. It's not hard to understand why James came away as the winner of the MVP Award. 

If Durant is to win a MVP Award in the next three years, he's going to need to improve on those assists numbers. He'll need a year similar to Larry Bird's 1987-1988 season where Bird averaged 29.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.6 steals, .8 blocks, 2.8 turnovers, on 52.7 percent shooting, 41.4 percent from three, and 91.6 percent from the free throw line. 

One argument that can be made for Durant is that the Cavaliers had a worse record this year than they had in the 2008-2009 season. The Cavaliers won 66 games and this year 61 games. The Thunder went from a 23 win team to a 50 win team. 

So for James the win-loss record was a negative five and for Durant the win-loss record was a positive 27. 

For Durant, an MVP Award is definitely within his grasp especially if the Thunder continue to improve, but in order for him to actually win the award he needs to improve his assist numbers and become a little bit better defender otherwise James will continue to win MVP Awards. 

When looking at the numbers 29.7 points, 8.6 assists, and 7.3 assists compared to 30.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assists there's really not much of a debate on which numbers are better.