LeBron James wishes the NBA would take a page out of the NFL‘s book when it comes to one of their awards.
With such shifty criteria surrounding the league’s MVP award, LeBron says he’s often wondered why basketball hasn’t looked into adding an Offensive Player of the Year Award to try to distinguish between who had the “best” season vs. who was the most valuable.
“I did think about how the NFL does Offensive Player of the Year and MVP,” James said on “Mind the Game” podcast with Steve Nash. “I thought that could possibly be something in our league, where you give an Offensive Player of the Year and an MVP.”
That caught Nash’s attention, who added: “You could be on a poor team, have an unbelievable offensive year and still win Offensive Player of the Year. And vice versa, you could maybe not have the best player in the league, but you were the most valuable in taking your team to a new height.”
Several great players have missed out on MVPs due to narratives and uneven applications of what does and doesn’t matter. But maybe adding an OPOY would help alleviate some of those conversations.
“It changes. It’s like, OK, so is it the best player? Is it the player who had the best season with their team? Maybe that’s Offensive Player of the Year,” LeBron posed. “Or is it just simply the best player in the league, statistically this was the best player in the league. Obviously you’re not going to have someone in there whose team didn’t come close to making the playoffs … it’s not the most valuable, then.”
Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
It’s definitely an interesting idea and makes you wonder how it would’ve been applied in seasons past. Also how would Adam Silver’s 65-game rule affect this if it event exists beyond 2025?
Would you support the NBA adopting an Offensive Player of the Year? Let us know down in the comments.
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