CLEVELAND: This was supposed to be the year LeBron James reclaimed what has become his elusive Most Valuable Player trophy. After proving once and for all during last year’s NBA Finals he remains the greatest player in the game today, it stood to reason the carryover effect would mean more MVP votes this spring.
Russell Westbrook and James Harden, however, have again leaped ahead of James in the race. As the revamped Oklahoma City Thunder visit for the only time this season on Sunday, Kevin Durant’s defection to the Golden State Warriors ruined both his and Steph Curry’s MVP chances for this season, as expected. It’s similar to how James was punished his first season in Miami and dismissed as a viable MVP candidate.
But Durant’s defection has cleared the way for Westbrook’s historic first season without his wing man.
Westbrook enters Sunday averaging a league-leading 31 points, 10.6 rebounds and 10.2 assists. He is attempting to become the second player in history to average a triple-double for a season, joining only Oscar Robertson, who did it in 1961-62.
“I know I’m a little biased because he’s my guy,” said Kevin Love, Westbrook’s former teammate at UCLA, “but he’s been almost unprecedented this year and done a great job.”
At 28-19, the Thunder enter Sunday ranked sixth in the West. Westbrook has 23 triple-doubles this season, joining Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players with 20 or more in a season. For perspective, James has 47 triple-doubles for his entire 14-year career. Westbrook now has 60 for his career.
“A triple-double means you can do three different things on the court at one time,” James said. “You can score the ball obviously, but the rebounds and assists are the ones that you feel like you’re helping your teammates more than anything.”
James posted triple-doubles in consecutive games this week and the Cavs lost both of them. He couldn’t recall another time when that has happened. James complained recently about needing more help, but Westbrook keeps losing bodies.
Aside from Durant’s high-profile defection to the Warriors, now key reserve Enes Kanter could miss two months after he broke his forearm while punching a chair in frustration during a recent game.
Westbrook, however, keeps shining.
“I think 10 points for guys like Westbrook, myself, Oscar Robertson, Magic, we can do that. We’ve shown the ability to do that every single night,” James said. “When you’re rebounding, you’re helping your teammates and when you’re assisting, you’re definitely helping your teammates. For me, that’s what means more than anything. The assists, number one, then the rebounding and the scoring is last.”
James still has time to make a late MVP push, but that seems unlikely at this point. He’s 32 now and three years removed from his most recent MVP season. Assuming he doesn’t win it this year, only Michael Jordan has won multiple MVPs with a gap of four years — and one of those seasons was spent playing baseball. No one has won it with five years in between.
James, however, has a much better chance of winning his fifth championship this season than Westbrook does of winning his first.
“He’s phenomenal,” James said of Westbrook. “What else can you say about the guy? He’s a rare talent and a special player.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.