Just hours after Jayson Tatum was declared the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals MVP, FOX Sports broadcaster Shannon Sharpe took a few minutes to reflect on LeBron James’ career and how many Conference Finals MVPs he would have earned had the award been a thing since his career began.
While it’s impossible to say for certain what would have happened, Shannon is convinced that James would have at least 9 Conference MVP trophies to his name and that it would help his legacy today:
“One of the things that Jordan has that LeBron doesn’t is a Defensive Player of the Year. And they used that to say ‘look at here, he was, he was league MVP and he was Defensive Player of the Year in the same season.’ So any time you get one of these awards, it’s something to your resume. And to have 8 of them on your resume… that says something. I believe he would have 10-0, I believe he would have swept. Now, the guy was making an argument that Anthony Davis could have won that one in the Nuggets series. It would have been close, but we know for a fact that all of the Eastern Conference Finals, he would’ve won that award. There’s no question he would’ve swept it, would have been a perfect 9-0…. 9 Conference Finals MVPs. But he doesn’t need another award. Just like Denzel Washington don’t need another Oscar. I know what GOAT James is.”
https://twitter.com/undisputed/status/1531296776518524929
It’s easy to forget just how dominant James was in his pre-Lakers form. He ran the East for a decade with very little resistance. To this day, it’s one of the most impressive stretches by any player in sports history.
Unfortunately for James, the Conference Finals MVP wasn’t a thing until this year and he missed out on the chance to stack up the accolade.
Maybe next season, he’ll be able to get one and add to his resume again before it’s all said and done.
