The Houston Rockets had perhaps the most disappointing season of any NBA team this season, finishing with a 41-41 record –15 wins less than last season– and barely making the playoffs. Nevertheless, Rockets owner Leslie Alexander believes that James Harden deserves to win league MVP. From Mark Berman of Fox 26:
“I don’t think that most pundits understand how great James is, and that in my opinion he’s definitely one of the top players in the NBA . To see what he contributes every night to get his team to win is magnificent.”
“Once he gets more offensive talent around him, and we win big, they’ll realize what they’re missing.
And once again Alexander believes his superstar is the NBA’s Most Valuable Player.
“I think he is the MVP,” Alexander said. “To get his team to 41-41 after all of the problems we’ve had, definitely.”
That’s one hell of a hot take. I can’t say I agree with Alexander, but there’s no denying that statistically, Harden had an incredible season. This season, Harden averaged a career-high 29 points per game to go with 7.5 assists, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.7 steals. Purely based off of those stats, Harden probably has an argument for the MVP award. However, the MVP is about more than points, rebounds, and assists. Harden played lazy defense, and looked generally disinterested for much of the season. He’s not MVP.
