Making The Distinction Between MVP And Best Player In The NBA

This season’s MVP race is a four-way competition between Stephen Curry, LeBron James, James Harden and Russell Westbrook. Compelling arguments can be made for all four candidates to be MVP but if any of them wins the award, does it make them the league’s top player? I say no.

In fact, you don’t even have to be a top-five MVP candidate to be deemed the best player on the planet. The guidelines for one does not necessarily apply towards the other. Simply put, MVP considerations are more team-driven and best player standards are slanted towards individual achievements.

An MVP award is granted to the most valuable player in the NBA. How can one truly measure the value of a player on their team? It’s a difficult question to answer.

One immediate route people usually jump to is the surrounding cast members of the candidate. That includes the quality of players on the team and more importantly, the performance of the candidate despite the absence of a star/key teammate. That usually drives the conversation in circles until it runs out of gas.

For example, this year Curry has played without Andrew Bogut and David Lee, LeBron has played without Kyrie Irving, Westbrook has played without Kevin Durant and Harden has played without Dwight Howard. Each MVP nominee has elevated their game regardless of anyone’s availability.

Another destination where basketball fans arrive at is the stats of the candidates. Those stats are intertwined with the quality of players on the team, and that is where people can really start to disagree. Some people punish Curry for having a better team than Harden so in turn, Harden would be ahead of Curry in terms of winning MVP. That’s unfair considering LeBron had the best team in the league the last two years he won MVP. There shouldn’t be a penalty for playing with good players.

Like the rest of the sports world, the NBA is a “what have you done for me lately” league. When your name is tossed in the MVP conversation, that motto is reinforced. That is the prime reason why Westbrook and LeBron are “sneaking” into the discussion. Westbrook battled an early hand injury and LeBron missed a few games along with early-season team struggles.

Now, with that criteria in mind, can Anthony Davis be included in the MVP category? No. Can he be considered the best player in the league? Most definitely.

Westbrook is the best player in the league to me, but if someone argued that Davis held that title, it would be hard to factually disagree with. Both players dominate the game in their own way on both ends of the floor. Davis is an efficient force in the paint on the offensive and defensive end. He’s also a precise rebounder with the ability to take over the game at any given moment.

However, that doesn’t automatically insert one into MVP contention. That’s more about what a player has done to help the team lately, and Davis does not fit the bill.

Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson are a few players who I’d consider the best player in the league in the years they won MVP. As of today, each player I mentioned in the MVP competition can be debated in the top player topic as well.

Overall, however the two matters are not as analogous as some make it seem.