At almost 40 years old, it should be impossible for LeBron James to even be sniffing the MVP conversation this season. Yet, somehow, he’s playing like one of the best in the world right now and Lakers coach Darvin Ham says it’ll be hard to vote against him if he keeps going at this pace.
“What he’s doing, where we are right now, I think with last night’s win we move into the top four in the West,” said Ham. “If we’re able to maintain that and improve, he’s spearheading everything going on with our team. The numbers he’s putting up, he’s impacting winning, the numbers when he’s on the floor as opposed to off the floor. No disrespect to AD, we need both of those guys, but in talking about LeBron specifically, I think it’s a no-brainer. You take someone that’s in their 21st season, a hands-down top-five player in the league right now today, and it’ll be hard not to vote for him as the MVP.”
"I think it's a no-brainer"
Lakers Head Coach Darvin Ham tells @TermineRadio that LeBron is the MVP front-runner after the first seven weeks of the season
Hear the In-Season Tournament Final tonight at 8:30p ET on Channel 86, or on the Sirius XM App 👇https://t.co/AYipQpeyBw pic.twitter.com/gjHc4Xt8fi
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) December 9, 2023
LeBron has been doing this for over 20 years now, and it gets harder to believe with each passing season. Somehow, in year 21, he’s having one of his finest stretches yet and if he keeps it up, there will be no choice but to insert him into the MVP debate this season.
Another Mastpiece From The King
We’ve never seen anybody play at this level at this age before. Despite turning 39 later this month, LeBron is looking fresh on the floor with averages of 25.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game on 55.3% shooting. Unlike in previous seasons, the Lakers are actually playing well as a team and their 4th place standing in the West has validated James’ efforts this year.
Of course, there are other players worthy of the MVP this year, including Joel Embiid who is currently leading the ballot. But with over 1,400 games under his belt, the fact that LeBron is playing this well is too impressive to ignore especially since he’s doing something that’s never been done before.
Lakers Are Title Contenders
The Lakers’ second-half push last season got them into the play-in tournament, where they began a run to the Western Conference Finals. It was a shocking turn of events for a team that started 2-10 on the season, but they proved in those few months what they could do with a complete roster.
This season, they haven’t lost a beat and are on currently on track to secure homecourt advantage in the first round. With a 14-9 record, including a 4-0 performance in the group stage of IST play, the Lakers rank 6th defensively and are staying afloat on the other end thanks to LeBron, who is leading the team in points and assists. It’s still very early on in the campaign, but if LeBron is hovering anywhere close to these numbers in a few months, nobody will be able to deny his claim as a top MVP candidate this season.
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