Before the Heat vs Warriors game on Saturday night, LeBron James was asked about his (and Dwyane Wade's) chances at winning the MVP award this season. According to James, it appears that the MVP chants for both of them at the AmericanAirlines Arena might fall on deaf ears for those who vote for the award.
"No, I don’t think so," James bluntly said. "The MVP is classified almost like an individual award and I guess they look at it like the less help that you had and the more numbers you put up then it’s a better chance for you to win that award. I think when we decided to come together that our MVP chances kind of went out the window."
James doesn't really care where his name would rank in the final tally if he was not able to win the award for a third consecutive year.
"If you ain’t first you’re last," he laughed. "It don’t even matter at that point."
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was slightly taken aback by the line of questioning, pausing for a few moments before choosing his words carefully.
"It seems kind of early," he mused. "I know probably they're starting to talk about that. But certainly winning should be a big factor and a player's impact. It might be tougher for them now. We have two guys who are very capable of getting an MVP. Now, for the last month, they're having very productive games and an impact directly on our winning."
Spoelstra also spoke of the reality that his two superstars would likely split any votes. As an example, he mentioned a year where Leonardo DiCaprio was Oscar nominated for two movies in the same year and didn't win for either one. An interesting non-sports analogy to be sure but the point is valid regardless.
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