Even with his coach vowing to limit his minutes during the regular season, LeBron James thinks he can win a fifth MVP this year and only has to look to the guy that beat him out for the award the past two seasons, Stephen Curry, for evidence.
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| LeBron James has finished third in NBA MVP voting the past two seasons
despite playing more minutes per game than Stephen Curry, who has won
the award for two straight years. |
“No,”
James said Saturday when asked if he was concerned that planned rest
could affect his MVP case. “Because Steph played 31 minutes a game and
he won the MVP.”
James was a little off in his stats -- Curry
averaged 32.7 minutes per game in 2014-15 and 34.2 minutes last season
en route to back-to-back MVPs -- but his point was clear: Even at age 31
and playing his 14
th season, with Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue hoping to keep him fresh for the postseason, it’s possible to add another MVP award to his collection.
James is tied with Wilt Chamberlain for the third-most MVPs in league history with four.
A reporter suggested that James could enter into even more elite company with a fifth.
“So, I’m not elite?” James quipped.
Another reporter gave it back to James, arguing that of course he knows the names of the people who have won five.
“I do,” James admitted.
Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Michael Jordan (five) and Bill Russell (five) have won more MVPs than the Cavs superstar.
While
Lue wouldn’t target a specific number of minutes for James after he
averaged a career-low 35.6 minutes per game last year -- “I’m not
telling you,” Lue said -- he admitted that he and James have discussed
how they can juggle rest with still being able to sufficiently showcase
his abilities during the regular season.
“We’ve talked about it,”
Lue said. “He understands that we want to keep his minutes down, and
when there’s games where it makes sense to take off, we’re going to take
those games off. We’re being smart about the situation. We have one
goal in mind, and that’s winning a championship. So, accolades, personal
accolades, they come later.”
James -- who finished third in MVP
voting each of the past two seasons -- echoed Lue’s stance, stressing
that he is prioritizing the Cavs’ team success over anything else.
“Well,
I’ve never set into a season saying I want to win MVP,” he said. “I’ve
always thought of the season saying I want to be MVP for my team and
it’s resulted in me getting four of them. So I’ve been available, for
the most part, every night and I’ve been available on both sides of the
floor. I’ve been healthy.
“So the simple fact that I’ve been able
to win four has been an honor, and it’s been a tribute to what I’ve been
able to accomplish in my career, but more importantly being able to be
on the floor with my teammates. So, it will be great if I’m able to
accomplish another one by doing what I need to do to help this team win.
Because we got to win to get one. No matter how great your individual
numbers are or your play is, your team has to be successful, and I’ve
been able to be a part of some successful teams so far.”
There is also the question of how James’ MVP chances affect
Kyrie Irving’s.
The sixth-year guard said Saturday he “absolutely” has thought about
winning the award, but isn’t sure if it will come as a teammate of
James.
“Following
that path of the greats that have come before me, putting myself in a
great position to be up for that award would be a tremendous honor,”
Irving said. “But I’m obviously realistic. I’m obviously living in a
moment when we have the best player playing the game right now, and as
well as other great pieces around us. So, whatever my role is here on
this team, then I’m willing to do.
Whatever I need to do in order to
raise the level of my play as well as my teammates around me, I will do
as well. And the rest will follow. Good things will happen when you do
and you just prepare and give everything to this game, and that’s what
I’ll continue to do.”
It was James, a reporter reminded Irving,
who just last season said that the point guard was destined to win a MVP
in his career. So doesn’t that make the chance of him winning it
alongside James more realistic than he’s letting on?
“You never know what can happen,” Irving said. “You never know. Like I said, I’m just going to continue to put the work in.”
While
not looking for any of his players to win individual accolades, Lue
said that an MVP campaign from James would be evidence of his team at
its best.
“If he wins an MVP, that means we’re winning,” Lue said. “So, I’ll take that.”
Source: ESPN.com
