NBA Awards: 5 Biggest MVP Snubs Of All Time

2017 NBA Awards Show
2017 NBA Awards Show

The second edition of the annual NBA Awards ceremony is scheduled to start tonight at 9 PM, Eastern Time. This is one of the closer MVP races in recent memory, featuring superstars James Harden, LeBron James and Anthony Davis going head-to-head as the top 3 finishers on the podium.

Also read: Ranking the Greatest MVP Seasons ever

All 3 of them have had historic seasons by any standards. While James continues to produce Jordanesque performances in his 15th season, Harden seems to finally have jumped over the MVP bump and looks all set to net his first MVP trophy. Not to be forgotten in this battle is Anthony Davis, without whom the Pelicans could never have finished in the playoff berths in the Murderer's Row that is the Western Conference playoff race.

All 3 of them have genuine cases as the truly most valuable players in the Association during the regular season, which is why 2 of them would be right to feel snubbed after the announcement of the award. So we decided to look up MVP races from the past, and we found quite a few snubs to put on this list.

We only have room for the grossest miscarriages of justice here, and the entire list is populated by all-time greats, who feature in most people's top 10 all-time players list.

#5 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1972-73

Milwaukee Bucks vs Golden State Warriors, 1972 Playoffs
Milwaukee Bucks vs Golden State Warriors, 1972 Playoffs

The greatest center of all time was the best player in the league right from the moment he set foot on an NBA court. Lew Alcindor won Rookie of the Year honours with Wilt-like numbers in his very first NBA season - 28.8 points, 14.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game - but didn't wind up winning the MVP award for the simple reason that he was a rookie.

Well, he endured a worse snub later on in his career. The 1972-73 NBA season was Dave Cowens' best, statistically speaking. He averaged 20.5 points, 16.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game, and he definitely deserved to be in contention for the award.

But these numbers pale in comparison to Kareem's, who put up 30.2 points, 16.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game for a team that was much more in need of his contributions than the Celtics needed Cowens'. The clearest proof of this is the fact that Kareem's Win Shares per 48 minute numbers are nearly twice that of Cowens' numbers.

Abdul-Jabbar wound up his NBA career with the most MVPs won by any player (6), but he had a legitimate argument for at least 2 more of those awards.

#4 Michael Jordan, 1988-89

Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan, 1991 NBA Finals
Michael Jordan dunks the ball against Magic's Lakers in the 1991 NBA Finals

It is inconceivable that a player could average 32.5 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 2.9 steals and 0.8 blocks per game as a shooting guard could wind up not winning the MVP award these days. However, that is exactly what happened to Michael Jordan, as he wound up losing an MVP race for the second time in his career.

His first snub was arguably in 1986-87 when he became the only guard to average 37 points per game through a regular season campaign. That was when Magic Johnson, the eventual winner, averaged 23.9 points but added 12.2 assists per game as well in comparison to Michael's average of 4.6.

The race in the '88-89 season turned out in similar fashion, as Magic put up per game averages of 22.5 points, 12.8 assists and 7.9 rebounds. It was close, but Jordan's 88-89 season ranks #1 among all players through 71 years of NBA history in Player Efficiency Rating (PER). He was a much better defender than Magic as well, which makes this snub all the more inexplicable.

He's still regarded as the greatest player of all time, and a couple of regular season MVP awards lost this way don't take anything away from his Hollywood career.

#3 Kobe Bryant, 2005-06

Toronto Raptors v Los Angeles Lakers
Toronto Raptors v Los Angeles Lakers

A lot of people dismiss Kobe Bryant's 2005-06 season as one in which he chucked his way to 35.4 points per game, and that he did not deserve the MVP award because the Lakers' record was not good enough. Quite evidently, they haven't watched that season unfold in front of their eyes - Kobe mania was almost at its peak at the time, and for absolutely solid reasons.

For starters, Kobe played with Kwame Brown, Luke Walton and Smush Parker in the starting lineup. With all due respect to those players, they're all bonafide scrubs. The lone average player in that starting lineup was Lamar Odom, which meant that Kobe dealt with regular double- and triple-teams on offense whenever he got the ball.

He still ended up averaging 35.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. In total he scored 30+ points in a whopping 54 games, with several streaks of 4 or more games with 30+ plus points. Of course, he also outscored the entire Mavericks team (#2 seed in the West) by himself through 3 quarters, 62-61, other than dropping 81 points on the Raptors in possibly the only regular season game through the season when he wasn't regularly double-teamed.

In 80 games through the 2005-06 season, Bryant led the Lakers to a 45-35 record and the 7th seed in the Western Conference. Without him, it is conceivable that they could have matched the Sixers' 10-72 record or been worse, as they were unable to attract any big-name free agents to support him, or effect any trades.

#2 Wilt Chamberlain, 1961-62

Golden State Warriors  v Philadelphia 76ers
Golden State Warriors v Philadelphia 76ers

As far as unimaginable seasons go, I humbly submit to you the most statistically eye-popping season in NBA history. Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points, 25.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in only his 3rd NBA season, and finished only 4th in MVP voting!

Let me enlist some other statistics which drive home how crazy that MVP snub was:

(a) Wilt is the only player in NBA history to average over 48 minutes per game while playing every game in the season.

(b) He racked up 4000 points that season. The only other player to crack 3000 points in a season was Michael Jordan in 86-87.

(c) No other player has stacked up 2000 rebounds in a season, ever.

Wilt is truly one-of-a-kind in terms of dominating basketball games on his own. After all, he has 6 70+ point games to his credit.

#1 Oscar Robertson, 1961-62

Cincinnati Royals v Boston Celtics
Cincinnati Royals v Boston Celtics

The Big O had his best statistical season in only his second full NBA campaign. Until 2 seasons back, he was the only player to average a triple-double, and he did so in the 1961-62 season. His per-game averages of 30.8 points, 11.4 assists and 12.5 rebounds were the only reason the Cincinnati Royals were able to make the playoffs in the 1961-62 season, as he had little to no help from his supporting cast.

Bill Russell finished first in that MVP race because he led a historically stacked Celtics team to the top seed in the regular season through the Eastern Division. Robertson's Royals teams would be dead last in the standings if it weren't for him, but they finished with second place in the Western Division with a 43-37 record.

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Edited by Yash Matange