The MVP voting process has always been an interesting source of debate among fans. Obviously, fans would want their favorite players to win the award, but the criteria for winning the award seem inconsistent, leading to frustration from said fans. It seems as though every season, there’s a different justification for that year’s MVP to win the award.
Ja Morant has recently criticized the inconsistent MVP criteria, pointing out that in the past seeding has mattered a lot for the MVP award. This is likely in response to Devin Booker not being in the recent NBA MVP rankings. Devin Booker is notably the leading scorer on the Phoenix Suns, who are the best team in the NBA. Other people have also suggested that Devin Booker should be in MVP talks such as Isiah Thomas.
still no dbook? https://t.co/uLprZmgcOI
— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) March 25, 2022
it was once you couldn't be a certain seed and win MVP but looks like that has changed . 🤷🏽♂️
wasn't gon speak on this but it's obvious it's whoever they want .
— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) March 25, 2022
It’s different depending on the PLAYER s*** is wild.
it was once you couldn’t be a certain seed and win MVP but looks like that has changed . wasn’t gon speak on this but it’s obvious it’s whoever they want .
It is true that generally, the league MVP comes from a top-4 team. However, there have been players to win the MVP award as a lower seed, such as Russell Westbrook in 2016-17, when he won his MVP with the 6th seed Oklahoma City Thunder.
We’ll see if there will be some consistency in MVP criteria in the future. To be fair to the voters, every single season is different, so it makes sense that people would take different approaches to every single season.
Ja Morant himself has had an MVP-caliber season with the 3rd seeded Memphis Grizzlies. Currently, Ja Morant is putting up 27.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 6.7 APG on the season. Perhaps this is the year the Memphis Grizzlies make a deep playoff run, and it will be interesting to see how far Ja Morant can lead them.
