LeBron James is the best basketball player alive, and he has been for more than 10 years. He has not won an MVP, however, since 2013. LeBron is always near the top of the list, but in recent years, he has fallen just short of the Herculean efforts of Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Russell Westbrook.
Someday, we'll probably look back on LeBron's career and wonder, How did he only win X MVPs? Right now, that number is four (2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013), but considering how good he has looked of late, it's quite possible he'll add to that total in the coming years.
It seems a practical impossibility, though, that he'll add a notch to his MVP list this season. James Harden has simply been too good. That doesn't change the fact that King James thinks he should win the 2017-18 MVP.
"I would vote for me," LeBron told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "The body of work, how I'm doing it, what’s been happening with our team all year long, how we've got so many injuries and things of that nature, guys in and out, to be able to still keep this thing afloat, I definitely would vote me."
James won't win the award this year, but he'll likely be a finalist, and he certainly deserves praise. What he's doing in his 15th season is truly astounding.
"At this point in my career, I'm just trying to break the mold, break the narrative of guys in their 15th year...I'm trying to do things that have never been done before," James said. "It's crazy because I'm not setting out to do it. It's just kind of happening organically. I'm just training my body and training my mind and going out and playing and seeing what happens."
We talk about the G.O.A.T. all the time, but LeBron is establishing his legacy as the indubitable endurance G.O.A.T. No one else has played the game at this high of a level for this long.
