LeBron James is in the midst of yet another incredible season, and seven-time NBA champion Robert Horry believes he deserves to win MVP. Horry boldly claimed on Spectrum Sportsnet that if James got calls the way Shai Gilgeous-Alexander does, he would be the unquestioned MVP.
“If LeBron James got the same calls as SGA does, he would be averaging 30+ points a game, and it’d be no question who’s MVP because he’s so much better, physically, stronger,” Horry said. “… And I think the league doesn’t want to show favoritism.
“He should be MVP because he’s putting in that type of work,” Horry continued. “I might be a little biased, but I’m sitting back and saying, league, you’d make a vital mistake if you give that to someone other than him, as of right now.”
Would it really be a huge mistake if James doesn’t win MVP? Not really. The 40-year-old just doesn’t have a strong enough case at this point.
For starters, James’ Los Angeles Lakers have an impressive 39-21 record this season, but they’re way behind the 50-11 Oklahoma City Thunder in the West. For someone to overcome that in the MVP race, they need to put up ridiculous numbers, and the Lakers star has not done that.
Even if you bump James’ averages of 24.9 points, 8.0 rebounds, 8.5 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in 2024-25 with a few more free throws, they’re still not impressive enough to the point where you disregard the difference in team record.
As for all the general talk about Gilgeous-Alexander and free throws, it’s not as bad as you might think. Yes, he gets a favorable whistle and ranks second in the NBA in free throw attempts per game, but he’s at 9.0 a game, which is hardly an outrageous number.
Also, when you consider that Gilgeous-Alexander leads the NBA with 20.4 drives per game, it is expected that he’ll get to the line a fair bit. So, to diminish his achievements this season by labeling him as some free-throw merchant is a bit unfair.
Getting back to James, while he may not deserve to win MVP, he should be getting more calls. The 21-time All-Star averages 4.6 free throws per game this season, and that number should be higher with how much contact he draws on a nightly basis.
Kendrick Perkins Believes LeBron James Is The Best Player In The NBA
Horry isn’t the only former NBA player to have heaped praise on James recently. Kendrick Perkins stated on First Take that he believes LeBron is the best player in the league.
“Are we sure that Nikola Jokic is the best player in the league? Are we sure about that? Because I would have to say right now, today, that LeBron James is the best player in the NBA. Here’s why I say it: the best player in the NBA gets it done on both ends on the floor.”
“LeBron James is getting it done at the age of 40 on both ends of the floor at a high level,” Perkins added. “He could guard one through five defensively. Offensively, we know what he could do. Damnit, he could play one through five… I would have to say right now, he’s the best player in the NBA.”
There is no denying that James has been one of the best players in the NBA over the last few months. It might be a stretch to call him the very best, though, with how well Nikola Jokic has been playing. Jokic is averaging a triple-double while shooting over 50% from the field and 40% from beyond the arc, and it’s hard to say that anyone is better than him at this point.
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