@Hyde said in NBA 2024/2025 season:
Although it has to be said here that when it comes to Michael Jordan it is often said (I can’t judge this myself, it was before my time) that Jordan actually could/should have won more MVPs, but then there was “voting fatigue”.
So the most famous example is probably Karl Malone’s MVP 97. Jordan had a very strong individual year with 30/6/4 and the Bulls won 69 games. Malone was 27/10 and the Jazz “only” won 64 games.
There was an article by Jackie MacMullen at the time about how underrated Malone is, which is repeatedly mentioned as the reason why the media suddenly changed course. Back then, not everyone had extensive access to games and statistics. An article like this from an influential person is enough.
With Lebron, for example, you have 2011, where Rose won MVP. I would have given it to Howard that year, but I would also have Lebron over Rose. After the Miami move, the general mood was so negative that he hardly had a chance. And Rose was just the better storyline.
Overall, both were so consistently good for so long that you could basically make a case every year as to why they deserved it. To be honest, 5 MVP really doesn’t sound like enough for LeBron, but that’s the problem when you have few positive outliers.
With Jokic there will also come a point where the media would rather have someone fresh. That’s basically the flow of time in the NBA media.
