LeBron James opened the floodgates when he said Stephen Curry deserved the MVP award this season, but added the "valuable" in MVP is open to interpretation.
The NBA doesn't have separate awards for "Most Valuable Player" and "Best Player," so the award essentially goes to the best player each year. Some people like to dig into the semantics of the name, saying the award should go to, well, the league's most "valuable" player.
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Cavs GM David Griffin was asked about his star player's comments Thursday during an appearance on the Jim Rome Show, and said James will always be the most valuable player to his team.
“I would have said that Michael Jordan was the MVP every year of his prime, and I would tell you that LeBron is as well,” Griffin said. “If 'V' is valuable, I don’t see any way that there’s a player that means more to our league or to his individual team than LeBron does or than Michael did. But I certainly think the seasons that Steph has put together are historically good. He’s a player that has taken a team to an unprecedented record and a championship, and he deserves all the accolades he gets, but in terms of value to a league, I think LeBron is the face of this league just as Michael Jordan was.
“I think so just in terms of the word ‘value,’ and again, we can get into a semantics question there, but I think if we’re really talking about who’s carrying a franchise and a league, I think LeBron does that, and our record without LeBron on the floor is not terribly good. He’s a guy who transcends every analytic metric you could ever use.”
Griffin, and James, have a point. Curry deserved the award for what it's meant for years, but there is something to be said for the "value" of "most valuable." The Cavs have talent around James, but they aren't nearly as efficient without him like the Warriors are without Curry.
What does "valuable" mean again in the connotation MVP NBA? (📷 via @AndrewDBailey) pic.twitter.com/DObjFe4oi4
— Will Reeve (@WillReeveJr) May 12, 2016
Obviously both players are key to their team's success, but when you break it down, the argument that James is more valuable is completely valid.
