WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.180 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Great to be here. 00:00:02.299 --> 00:00:05.259 Today we are not just talking about basketball. 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:10.300 We are, we're talking about the absolute pinnacle 00:00:10.300 --> 00:00:13.859 of individual achievement in the sport. We're 00:00:13.859 --> 00:00:17.100 looking at the award that defines legacies, the 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:19.780 trophy that separates the greats from, well, 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:22.500 the immortals. It really is. We are talking, 00:00:22.539 --> 00:00:25.239 of course, about the NBA Most Valuable Player 00:00:25.239 --> 00:00:29.230 Award. It's the singular honor. It really shapes 00:00:29.230 --> 00:00:31.929 how we remember the history of the league. You 00:00:31.929 --> 00:00:33.729 can win scoring titles. You can make all -star 00:00:33.729 --> 00:00:36.299 teams, sure. Right. But... When you look back 00:00:36.299 --> 00:00:39.200 at the eras of the NBA, you tend to define them 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:42.659 by who was holding that MVP trophy. Yes. It's 00:00:42.659 --> 00:00:44.420 the shorthand for greatness. It is. It's the 00:00:44.420 --> 00:00:46.299 King of the Hill Award. And I think what's so 00:00:46.299 --> 00:00:48.020 cool about the stack of research we have today 00:00:48.020 --> 00:00:49.880 is that it's not just a list of names. I mean, 00:00:49.899 --> 00:00:51.640 sure, we're going to talk about Jordan and LeBron 00:00:51.640 --> 00:00:53.960 and Kareem. Of course. How can you not? But we're 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:55.740 also going to get into the machinery of it all, 00:00:55.799 --> 00:00:58.060 how the voting works, how it's changed over the 00:00:58.060 --> 00:01:00.359 years. The mechanics are fascinating. Right. 00:01:00.500 --> 00:01:03.859 From players voting to media voting and even 00:01:03.859 --> 00:01:06.280 the hardware itself has a story. That's right. 00:01:06.540 --> 00:01:09.099 And we have to, you know, acknowledge the current 00:01:09.099 --> 00:01:12.579 context we're living in. As of the 2024 -25 season, 00:01:12.739 --> 00:01:15.739 the man sitting on that throne is Shy Gilgis 00:01:15.739 --> 00:01:19.140 Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder. SGA. 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:21.900 I mean, the timeline has officially moved into 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:24.560 a new era. It's just fascinating to see him on 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:27.250 that list now. It really is. But before we get 00:01:27.250 --> 00:01:29.310 to the modern day, we have a mission here. We 00:01:29.310 --> 00:01:31.549 need to unpack the history, the controversies. 00:01:31.549 --> 00:01:34.250 And, oh, there are controversies. There are definitely 00:01:34.250 --> 00:01:36.370 controversies. And the changing rules. Because, 00:01:36.370 --> 00:01:38.650 and this is something I didn't fully realize 00:01:38.650 --> 00:01:41.370 until I looked at the notes, the criteria for 00:01:41.370 --> 00:01:43.790 winning haven't always been the same. No, not 00:01:43.790 --> 00:01:46.469 at all. The very definition of value has shifted. 00:01:46.569 --> 00:01:48.430 The people deciding that value has shifted. And 00:01:48.430 --> 00:01:50.609 now eligibility itself has shifted. Exactly. 00:01:50.909 --> 00:01:53.810 And recently, even the eligibility requirements 00:01:53.810 --> 00:01:56.989 have shifted with this new 65 game rule. Which 00:01:56.989 --> 00:01:59.290 we absolutely will get to because that is a game 00:01:59.290 --> 00:02:01.730 changer. Literally. It is. But let's start with 00:02:01.730 --> 00:02:04.890 the basics. If you win the MVP today, like Shai 00:02:04.890 --> 00:02:07.569 Gilgis -Alexander just did, what are you actually 00:02:07.569 --> 00:02:10.289 holding? Because for a long time, it was the 00:02:10.289 --> 00:02:12.430 Maurice Podoloff trophy. Right. But that's not 00:02:12.430 --> 00:02:15.169 the case anymore, is it? It is not. As of the 00:02:15.169 --> 00:02:18.669 2022 -23 season, the league made a pretty significant 00:02:18.669 --> 00:02:23.590 branding change. The MVP now receives the Michael 00:02:23.590 --> 00:02:26.050 Jordan trophy. Which, let's be honest, that just 00:02:26.050 --> 00:02:28.590 feels appropriate. It seems obvious in retrospect. 00:02:29.110 --> 00:02:31.629 I mean, naming the MVP trophy after a five -time 00:02:31.629 --> 00:02:34.550 winner seems like a complete no -brainer. But 00:02:34.550 --> 00:02:37.729 walk me through the logic here. Why ditch Podoloff? 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:40.580 Was there like some kind of beef with the old 00:02:40.580 --> 00:02:43.120 commissioner? It wasn't so much beef as it was 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:46.979 a realignment of symbols. Maurice Podoloff was 00:02:46.979 --> 00:02:48.680 the first commissioner of the NBA. Well, technically, 00:02:48.699 --> 00:02:50.960 his title was president back then. Right. He 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:54.460 served from 1946 until 1963. He was an administrator. 00:02:54.860 --> 00:02:57.379 He was a suit. Right. He was crucial for the 00:02:57.379 --> 00:02:59.500 league's survival. Don't get me wrong. But he 00:02:59.500 --> 00:03:03.099 didn't exactly represent on court. Right. It's 00:03:03.099 --> 00:03:04.719 a bit like winning the Employee of the Month 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:07.060 award and getting a trophy shaped like the HR 00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:10.740 director. That is a harsh, but I'd say pretty 00:03:10.740 --> 00:03:13.379 accurate analogy. So the league decided to move 00:03:13.379 --> 00:03:16.340 his name. They did. So the league decided to 00:03:16.340 --> 00:03:19.780 move Podolov's name. They didn't erase him. They 00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:21.759 just moved him to a trophy that fits his role 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:24.900 a lot better. The Maurice Podolov trophy is now 00:03:24.900 --> 00:03:27.099 given to the team with the best regular season 00:03:27.099 --> 00:03:29.259 record. Okay, let's unpack that for a second. 00:03:29.340 --> 00:03:31.099 That actually makes a ton of sense. It does, 00:03:31.139 --> 00:03:34.199 right. The commissioner, the administrator, is 00:03:34.199 --> 00:03:37.180 now associated with team success, the organizational 00:03:37.180 --> 00:03:39.740 structure, the standings. The collective achievement. 00:03:39.740 --> 00:03:43.039 And the MVP, the individual brilliance, is named 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:45.719 after the guy who arguably defined individual 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:48.939 brilliance, Michael Jordan. Exactly. It cleanly 00:03:48.939 --> 00:03:51.259 separates the administrative achievement from 00:03:51.259 --> 00:03:54.069 the athletic achievement. I like that. But, you 00:03:54.069 --> 00:03:56.650 know, the hardware is just the symbol, the real 00:03:56.650 --> 00:03:59.509 machinery of glory. And where all the arguments 00:03:59.509 --> 00:04:01.650 happen is the voting process. Oh, absolutely. 00:04:01.949 --> 00:04:04.150 And this is where the history gets really surprising 00:04:04.150 --> 00:04:06.770 for people who assume it's always been sports 00:04:06.770 --> 00:04:09.430 writers sitting in a room making the pick. And 00:04:09.430 --> 00:04:12.150 that's a huge misconception. Oh, this blew my 00:04:12.150 --> 00:04:15.030 mind when I was digging into the sources. I just 00:04:15.030 --> 00:04:18.149 assumed it was always the media. The beat writers, 00:04:18.350 --> 00:04:20.550 the columnists, the talking heads. Right. But 00:04:20.550 --> 00:04:23.029 you're telling me that back in the day, the players 00:04:23.029 --> 00:04:25.410 actually voted for the MVP. That is correct. 00:04:25.529 --> 00:04:28.730 From the inception of the award in the 1955 -56 00:04:28.730 --> 00:04:32.329 season all the way until the 1979 -80 season, 00:04:32.550 --> 00:04:36.550 the MVP was selected by a vote of the NBA players. 00:04:37.029 --> 00:04:39.430 Whoa, wait. Pause on that. Just imagine the psychology 00:04:39.430 --> 00:04:41.529 of that for a second. Mm -hmm. You're playing 00:04:41.529 --> 00:04:44.050 against Bill Russell or Wilt Chamberlain. They 00:04:44.050 --> 00:04:47.050 are physically beating you up in the paint, elbowing 00:04:47.050 --> 00:04:49.709 you, dunking on you. Humiliating you on a nightly 00:04:49.709 --> 00:04:51.529 basis. And then at the end of the year, you have 00:04:51.529 --> 00:04:53.610 to take a piece of paper and write down, yeah, 00:04:53.670 --> 00:04:55.910 that guy who embarrassed me is the best. It adds 00:04:55.910 --> 00:04:58.389 a layer of peer respect that is really unique, 00:04:58.470 --> 00:05:01.350 but also, you know, a layer of complex interpersonal 00:05:01.350 --> 00:05:03.910 dynamics. When you look at those early winners, 00:05:04.069 --> 00:05:07.829 Bob Pettit, Bill Russell, Wilt, they were being 00:05:07.829 --> 00:05:10.480 crowned by the men they competed against. Every 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:12.860 single night. So it's the ultimate sign of respect. 00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:15.980 There's a very strong argument to be made that 00:05:15.980 --> 00:05:18.220 the player vote is the purest form of validation. 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:21.920 They know who is truly unstoppable because they 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:24.459 are the ones trying and failing to stop them. 00:05:24.540 --> 00:05:26.680 But isn't there a huge downside to that? I mean, 00:05:26.699 --> 00:05:28.800 players are human. They hold grudges. They have 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:30.439 friends on other teams. They might vote for their 00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:33.500 buddy. Oh, absolutely. And that is the fascinating 00:05:33.500 --> 00:05:37.149 friction of that era. Take the classic. Bill 00:05:37.149 --> 00:05:39.430 Russell versus Wilt Chamberlain debate. The ultimate 00:05:39.430 --> 00:05:41.629 rivalry. Wilt Chamberlain had the numbers. I 00:05:41.629 --> 00:05:43.490 mean, the insane numbers. He was averaging 50 00:05:43.490 --> 00:05:45.810 points a game in one season. He was a statistical 00:05:45.810 --> 00:05:48.970 alien. 50? But Bill Russell kept winning the 00:05:48.970 --> 00:05:52.689 MVPs. Why? Because the players voted. Because 00:05:52.689 --> 00:05:55.209 the players voted. And the players clearly respected 00:05:55.209 --> 00:05:58.069 Russell's winning impact, his defense, his leadership. 00:05:58.550 --> 00:06:02.649 Or perhaps they simply liked him more than the 00:06:02.649 --> 00:06:05.589 aloof. Sometimes difficult wilt. So the player 00:06:05.589 --> 00:06:07.350 vote era might have actually been the popularity 00:06:07.350 --> 00:06:10.350 contest era. Or maybe the who do I hate losing 00:06:10.350 --> 00:06:14.410 to the least era. In a way, yes. Or at least 00:06:14.410 --> 00:06:17.589 the respect contest. Players voted for the guy 00:06:17.589 --> 00:06:19.930 they feared. Or the guy who made his teammates 00:06:19.930 --> 00:06:22.370 better. They didn't care as much about raw box 00:06:22.370 --> 00:06:24.550 score numbers because, well, they didn't have 00:06:24.550 --> 00:06:26.689 advanced analytics back then. They went by feel. 00:06:27.269 --> 00:06:30.350 By who dominated them. They went by feel. But 00:06:30.350 --> 00:06:34.139 then in the 1980 -81 season. The league flipped 00:06:34.139 --> 00:06:37.180 the script completely. So why the change? I mean, 00:06:37.180 --> 00:06:39.939 if the player vote was the purest form of respect, 00:06:40.180 --> 00:06:42.420 why hand it over to the media? What was the logic? 00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:45.379 The league shifted the decision -making power 00:06:45.379 --> 00:06:48.519 to a panel of sports writers and broadcasters 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:51.360 from across the United States and Canada. The 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:54.259 official rationale, the party line, was to bring 00:06:54.259 --> 00:06:56.500 more objectivity to the process. Objectivity. 00:06:56.519 --> 00:06:58.800 The idea was that the media watches all the games, 00:06:58.899 --> 00:07:00.939 they aren't on the court getting elbowed, and 00:07:00.939 --> 00:07:02.600 they don't have personal beefs with the players 00:07:02.600 --> 00:07:04.699 in the locker room. But come on, objectivity. 00:07:05.180 --> 00:07:08.199 The media has just as many biases as the players? 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:10.579 There's just different kinds of biases? Precisely. 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:13.040 And this is a crucial distinction that you have 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:15.870 to understand. When the vote shifted to the media 00:07:15.870 --> 00:07:19.850 in 1980, we arguably saw the birth of what I 00:07:19.850 --> 00:07:22.730 call the narrative MVP. The narrative MVP. I 00:07:22.730 --> 00:07:25.490 love that. Explain that. Suddenly, being the 00:07:25.490 --> 00:07:28.149 best player wasn't always enough. You needed 00:07:28.149 --> 00:07:31.189 a compelling season -long arc. You needed a story. 00:07:31.709 --> 00:07:34.870 We traded the fear factor of the players for 00:07:34.870 --> 00:07:37.500 the editorial appeal of the writers. That explains 00:07:37.500 --> 00:07:40.220 so much about the 80s and 90s. The writers love 00:07:40.220 --> 00:07:43.259 a good story. Michael Jordan is ascending. Charles 00:07:43.259 --> 00:07:45.740 Barkley is redeeming himself in Phoenix. Karl 00:07:45.740 --> 00:07:48.939 Malone is finally due for one. Exactly. The media 00:07:48.939 --> 00:07:51.579 vote also introduced the concept of voter fatigue. 00:07:51.899 --> 00:07:54.019 Oh, that's a huge one. Writers get bored writing 00:07:54.019 --> 00:07:56.279 the same headline every year. Players might not 00:07:56.279 --> 00:07:58.360 get bored of admitting Jordan's the best, but 00:07:58.360 --> 00:08:01.459 a writer, they want a new angle. This shift fundamentally 00:08:01.459 --> 00:08:04.000 changed. Who won the awards in certain years? 00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:06.800 It's the LeBron problem of the 2010s. He was 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:08.980 probably the best player for a decade straight, 00:08:09.139 --> 00:08:11.860 but he didn't win 10 straight MVPs. He couldn't. 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:14.139 The voters would have staged a revolt. So for 00:08:14.139 --> 00:08:16.899 the last 40 plus years, it's been the media controlling 00:08:16.899 --> 00:08:19.879 the narrative and the award. But then, you know, 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:22.720 the internet age happens. The fans want it in. 00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:25.720 And the league eventually threw them a bone. 00:08:25.860 --> 00:08:29.519 A very small bone. A tiny one. Starting in 2010, 00:08:29.779 --> 00:08:32.970 the process evolved again just slightly. Fans 00:08:32.970 --> 00:08:35.730 got a voice. They get to cast one collective 00:08:35.730 --> 00:08:39.549 ballot through online voting. Hold on. One ballot? 00:08:39.730 --> 00:08:42.830 Like one singular vote out of a hundred and something? 00:08:43.090 --> 00:08:46.409 Just one. The fan vote is tallied up and it counts 00:08:46.409 --> 00:08:49.070 as a single ballot in the final count. It can 00:08:49.070 --> 00:08:51.190 act as a tiebreaker or just one vote among the 00:08:51.190 --> 00:08:53.029 panel. It's essentially a rounding error in the 00:08:53.029 --> 00:08:54.429 grand scheme of things. That feels like a total 00:08:54.429 --> 00:08:57.529 marketing gimmick. Your voice matters. Well, 00:08:57.629 --> 00:09:00.070 about 1 % of it matters. It was absolutely a 00:09:00.070 --> 00:09:03.090 nod to the growing engagement of the fan base 00:09:03.090 --> 00:09:06.769 and the rise of social media. It allows the league 00:09:06.769 --> 00:09:08.690 to say the fans are involved without actually 00:09:08.690 --> 00:09:10.870 letting, you know, the internet trolls decide 00:09:10.870 --> 00:09:13.269 who the MVP is. Can you imagine if it was 100 00:09:13.269 --> 00:09:16.049 % fan vote? We'd have some very, very strange 00:09:16.049 --> 00:09:18.590 MVPs. Alex Crusoe would have three MVPs by now. 00:09:18.889 --> 00:09:21.309 We'd probably have a meme player winning MVP 00:09:21.309 --> 00:09:24.110 every single year. So, OK, we have this panel 00:09:24.110 --> 00:09:27.029 of writers and broadcasters, plus this token 00:09:27.029 --> 00:09:30.909 fan vote. But how do they actually tally it up? 00:09:30.929 --> 00:09:33.190 Right. Because I think a lot of people just imagine 00:09:33.190 --> 00:09:35.750 everyone writes down one name and whoever has 00:09:35.750 --> 00:09:39.470 the most votes wins. But it's much more nuanced 00:09:39.470 --> 00:09:42.269 than that. Much more nuanced. And this is where 00:09:42.269 --> 00:09:44.889 the math nerds get excited because it's a weighted 00:09:44.889 --> 00:09:48.460 point system. Every voter doesn't just pick a 00:09:48.460 --> 00:09:50.779 winner. They have to rank their top five. And 00:09:50.779 --> 00:09:53.539 the order matters immensely. OK, break down the 00:09:53.539 --> 00:09:56.279 math for us. Why does being second or third on 00:09:56.279 --> 00:09:59.360 a ballot matter so much? So a first place vote 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:01.120 is worth 10 points. That's the gold standard. 00:10:01.559 --> 00:10:04.100 But a second place vote is still worth a hefty 00:10:04.100 --> 00:10:06.879 seven points. Third place gets you five points. 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:09.379 Fourth gets three points. And fifth place gets 00:10:09.379 --> 00:10:11.220 one point. OK, so here's where it gets really 00:10:11.220 --> 00:10:12.720 interesting then. Let's run a little simulation 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:15.779 in our heads. OK. You could theoretically have 00:10:15.779 --> 00:10:18.490 a player. Let's call him player A, who is super 00:10:18.490 --> 00:10:20.909 polarizing. Maybe he puts up huge stats, but 00:10:20.909 --> 00:10:22.990 people don't like his style. Half the voters 00:10:22.990 --> 00:10:24.610 think he's the best and give him a first place 00:10:24.610 --> 00:10:27.769 vote. Right, 50 first place votes. But the other 00:10:27.769 --> 00:10:29.730 half of the voters can't stand him and leave 00:10:29.730 --> 00:10:32.409 him off their ballot entirely. So he gets zero 00:10:32.409 --> 00:10:34.429 points from them. Correct. And then you have 00:10:34.429 --> 00:10:37.529 player B. Maybe player B isn't anyone's absolute 00:10:37.529 --> 00:10:40.470 favorite. Maybe he's a little boring, but he's 00:10:40.470 --> 00:10:43.309 fundamentally solid. Mr. Reliable. Mr. Reliable. 00:10:43.309 --> 00:10:46.169 And every single voter respects him enough to 00:10:46.169 --> 00:10:48.509 put him second or third on their ballot. So he 00:10:48.509 --> 00:10:50.889 racks up a ton of seven point and five point 00:10:50.889 --> 00:10:53.009 votes. In that scenario, player B could actually 00:10:53.009 --> 00:10:55.809 win the award without having nearly as many first 00:10:55.809 --> 00:10:58.269 place votes as player A. His coin total would 00:10:58.269 --> 00:11:00.870 be higher. So the system rewards consensus. It 00:11:00.870 --> 00:11:03.370 actively protects against polarization. Absolutely. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:06.679 It ensures that the MVP is someone the entire 00:11:06.679 --> 00:11:10.159 basketball world generally agrees is elite, rather 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:12.759 than someone who just has a fervent but small 00:11:12.759 --> 00:11:15.399 cult following. The winner is the player with 00:11:15.399 --> 00:11:17.860 the highest total points. It forces the voters 00:11:17.860 --> 00:11:20.039 to look at the whole picture, not just their 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:22.200 favorite highlight reel. It's a system designed 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:24.440 to find the player who is undeniably valuable 00:11:24.440 --> 00:11:27.899 across the board. I get it. So that's the machinery. 00:11:28.019 --> 00:11:30.779 We know how the votes are cast and counted. Now, 00:11:30.820 --> 00:11:33.559 let's talk about the Titans, the guys who mastered 00:11:33.559 --> 00:11:36.399 this system year after year. The legends. When 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:39.320 we look at the history books, who is the undisputed 00:11:39.320 --> 00:11:43.299 king of MVPs? Standing alone at the top of the 00:11:43.299 --> 00:11:46.860 mountain is Kareem Abdul -Jabbar. He has won 00:11:46.860 --> 00:11:49.620 the award a record six times. Six times. That 00:11:49.620 --> 00:11:51.820 is, that's almost hard to comprehend. That's 00:11:51.820 --> 00:11:54.200 essentially a decade of dominance. And think 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:57.440 about the era he did it in. The 1970s. The 70s 00:11:57.440 --> 00:11:59.820 were a really turbulent time for the NBA. The 00:11:59.820 --> 00:12:02.259 league was struggling with drug scandals, tape 00:12:02.259 --> 00:12:04.940 delayed finals, a merger with the ABA. It was 00:12:04.940 --> 00:12:07.399 chaotic. And Kareem was the constant. In the 00:12:07.399 --> 00:12:09.659 midst of all that chaos, Kareem was the constant. 00:12:09.799 --> 00:12:11.860 He won three with the Milwaukee Bucks and three 00:12:11.860 --> 00:12:14.190 more with the Los Angeles Lakers. It's wild to 00:12:14.190 --> 00:12:16.230 think he split them between two teams like that. 00:12:16.289 --> 00:12:19.110 Usually you associate an MVP run with one specific 00:12:19.110 --> 00:12:22.009 dynasty. It just highlights his incredible longevity 00:12:22.009 --> 00:12:24.250 and the fact that his signature shot, the sky 00:12:24.250 --> 00:12:27.629 hook, it was simply unsolvable. It didn't matter 00:12:27.629 --> 00:12:30.389 what jersey he wore. You couldn't stop it. That's 00:12:30.389 --> 00:12:32.879 amazing. And here is a nugget I found that just 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:35.299 speaks to the prestige of this award. Go on. 00:12:35.559 --> 00:12:38.100 Every single eligible player who has won the 00:12:38.100 --> 00:12:40.580 MVP award has been inducted into the Naismith 00:12:40.580 --> 00:12:43.000 Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. That's 100 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:45.559 % hit rate. It's 100 % hit rate. If you win MVP, 00:12:45.799 --> 00:12:48.639 you are a Hall of Famer, period. Obviously not 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:50.899 counting active players who aren't eligible yet. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:53.200 It's the ultimate credential. So Kareem has six. 00:12:53.659 --> 00:12:56.059 Who's in the tier just below him? Who's chasing 00:12:56.059 --> 00:12:58.559 him? Just below him, we have the Five Timers 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:01.779 Club. which has two very exclusive members, Bill 00:13:01.779 --> 00:13:05.220 Russell and Michael Jordan. The GOATs. Bill Russell, 00:13:05.379 --> 00:13:07.700 five MVPs. And remember, as we just discussed, 00:13:07.860 --> 00:13:10.519 those were player votes. His peers, the guys 00:13:10.519 --> 00:13:12.539 he was battling, looked at him and said, you 00:13:12.539 --> 00:13:15.539 are the best five separate times. That just carries 00:13:15.539 --> 00:13:17.539 a different weight than Jordan's five, doesn't 00:13:17.539 --> 00:13:19.879 it? It does. It really does. Jordan's five all 00:13:19.879 --> 00:13:22.480 came in the media era. So Jordan had to battle 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:25.879 not just opposing defenses, but that Jordan fatigue 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:28.309 we talked about. The narrative. There were years 00:13:28.309 --> 00:13:31.649 like when Charles Barkley won in 1993 or Karl 00:13:31.649 --> 00:13:34.230 Malone in 1997, where you could easily argue 00:13:34.230 --> 00:13:36.210 Jordan was still the best player on the planet. 00:13:36.330 --> 00:13:38.110 But the writers wanted to spread the wealth. 00:13:38.289 --> 00:13:40.269 They wanted a new story. Russell didn't have 00:13:40.269 --> 00:13:42.750 to deal with that narrative fatigue as much because 00:13:42.750 --> 00:13:45.590 the players just voted for who won and they kept 00:13:45.590 --> 00:13:48.230 picking him. It's the LeBron problem, too. We 00:13:48.230 --> 00:13:50.669 get bored of sustained greatness. Speaking of 00:13:50.669 --> 00:13:54.049 LeBron, he's in the next tier down, right? Right. 00:13:54.049 --> 00:13:56.860 Just below them, you have the four timers. Wilt 00:13:56.860 --> 00:13:59.700 Chamberlain and LeBron James. That is just incredible 00:13:59.700 --> 00:14:01.759 company. I mean, look at those names. Kareem, 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:05.399 Russell, Jordan, Wilt, LeBron. That's essentially 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:07.419 the Mount Rushmore debate right there in the 00:14:07.419 --> 00:14:10.100 MVP standing. It is. The award winners list is 00:14:10.100 --> 00:14:12.700 basically the definitive list of the greatest 00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:15.340 to ever play. And there is a specific statistical 00:14:15.340 --> 00:14:17.779 feat that only two of those men accomplished 00:14:17.779 --> 00:14:21.580 and call it the efficiency of dominance. I like 00:14:21.580 --> 00:14:23.860 that. What is it? Only Bill Russell and LeBron 00:14:23.860 --> 00:14:26.399 James have managed to win the award four times 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:30.139 in a five -season span. Whoa. Four out of five 00:14:30.139 --> 00:14:33.139 years. That's suffocating. That basically means 00:14:33.139 --> 00:14:36.240 for half a decade, nobody else really had a chance. 00:14:36.360 --> 00:14:38.259 Not really. The league was just living in their 00:14:38.259 --> 00:14:41.120 world. Exactly. It speaks to a specific era where 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:44.179 the gravity of the entire sport revolved around 00:14:44.179 --> 00:14:46.960 that one player. For Russell, it was the mid 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:50.389 -60s with the Celtics dynasty. For LeBron, it 00:14:50.389 --> 00:14:53.110 was that Miami Heat and late Cleveland era where 00:14:53.110 --> 00:14:55.509 he physically peaked. Just total domination. 00:14:56.710 --> 00:14:59.049 Now, speaking of doing things in a row, let's 00:14:59.049 --> 00:15:01.090 talk about the three -peat. Because winning back 00:15:01.090 --> 00:15:02.730 -to -back is hard enough. Winning three years 00:15:02.730 --> 00:15:04.870 in a row seems basically impossible in the modern 00:15:04.870 --> 00:15:06.850 NBA. It has proven to be incredibly difficult. 00:15:06.889 --> 00:15:08.929 Only three players in the entire history of the 00:15:08.929 --> 00:15:11.710 league have won three consecutive MVPs. Three 00:15:11.710 --> 00:15:14.789 players. Who are they? Bill Russell, again. Wilt 00:15:14.789 --> 00:15:17.330 Chamberlain, his great rival. And the last one 00:15:17.330 --> 00:15:20.389 to do it, Larry Bird. Larry Legend, in the mid 00:15:20.389 --> 00:15:23.049 -80s. That was 84, 85, 86. And think about the 00:15:23.049 --> 00:15:25.509 context of that. Magic Johnson was in the league 00:15:25.509 --> 00:15:28.049 and at his peak. Jordan had just arrived. Kareem 00:15:28.049 --> 00:15:30.129 was still playing at a high level. And Larry 00:15:30.129 --> 00:15:32.809 Bird won three straight against that level of 00:15:32.809 --> 00:15:35.909 competition. And since then, nobody. Since Bird, 00:15:36.149 --> 00:15:38.909 no one has managed to secure three in a row. 00:15:39.049 --> 00:15:41.330 We've had some really close calls recently, though, 00:15:41.350 --> 00:15:43.549 right? Guys winning two straight. Very close. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:46.059 Giannis Antetokounmpo won back -to -back in 19 00:15:46.059 --> 00:15:48.700 and 20 and was right there for a third. And of 00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:51.080 course, Nikola Jokic won back -to -back in 21 00:15:51.080 --> 00:15:54.659 and 22 and had a massive, massive case for a 00:15:54.659 --> 00:15:58.340 third before Embiid won it in 23. So why do you 00:15:58.340 --> 00:16:01.059 think the three -peat is so hard now? Is it just 00:16:01.059 --> 00:16:03.500 that the talent level across the league is higher 00:16:03.500 --> 00:16:06.299 or is it something else? I think it goes back 00:16:06.299 --> 00:16:08.820 to the media voting and the narrative. To win 00:16:08.820 --> 00:16:11.580 three times in a row now, you have to not just 00:16:11.580 --> 00:16:13.980 be the best, you have to be significantly better 00:16:13.980 --> 00:16:15.620 than you were the year before. You have to keep 00:16:15.620 --> 00:16:18.539 improving on greatness. You do. If you just stay 00:16:18.539 --> 00:16:21.360 great, the voters get bored. They say, well, 00:16:21.419 --> 00:16:23.059 we gave it to him last year. His stats are the 00:16:23.059 --> 00:16:25.259 same. You also have to reinvent yourself to keep 00:16:25.259 --> 00:16:27.759 their attention. That makes perfect sense. He's 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:29.980 doing the same amazing thing he did last year. 00:16:30.299 --> 00:16:32.879 Boring. Who's got a better story? Next. It's 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:35.580 a tough hurdle to clear. Now let's look at which 00:16:35.580 --> 00:16:38.200 franchises have the most hardware in their trophy 00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:41.440 cases. I have feeling I know who's at the top 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:44.549 of this list. It's the usual suspects. The Boston 00:16:44.549 --> 00:16:48.070 Celtics lead the pack with 10 total MVP awards 00:16:48.070 --> 00:16:50.490 won by players on their roster. Russell and Bird 00:16:50.490 --> 00:16:52.190 are doing the heavy lifting there, obviously. 00:16:52.269 --> 00:16:54.870 But who else? Bob Cosi won one, right? Yes, Bob 00:16:54.870 --> 00:16:56.889 Cosi won one of the earliest ones, and Dave Cowens 00:16:56.889 --> 00:16:59.529 won one in the 70s. It just shows the generational 00:16:59.529 --> 00:17:02.149 excellence of that organization. And second place 00:17:02.149 --> 00:17:05.210 has to be their rivals. Of course. In second 00:17:05.210 --> 00:17:08.289 place, the Los Angeles Lakers with eight awards. 00:17:08.549 --> 00:17:12.829 That's Kareem, Magic, Shaq. Kobe, a Mount Rushmore 00:17:12.829 --> 00:17:14.490 of their own. Then you have the Philadelphia 00:17:14.490 --> 00:17:17.569 76ers with seven, thanks to a long history from 00:17:17.569 --> 00:17:21.430 Wilt and Dr. J to Moses Malone, Allen Iverson, 00:17:21.450 --> 00:17:24.390 and most recently, Joel Embiid. And the Bulls. 00:17:24.390 --> 00:17:26.829 And the Chicago Bulls with 6 -5 from Jordan, 00:17:26.910 --> 00:17:28.849 of course, and one from Derrick Rose. It really 00:17:28.849 --> 00:17:31.970 shows that while MVP is an individual award, 00:17:32.349 --> 00:17:34.930 it tends to cluster around the great dynasties. 00:17:35.150 --> 00:17:37.509 You need a great organization to put you in a 00:17:37.509 --> 00:17:39.980 position to win. That's usually the case. You 00:17:39.980 --> 00:17:42.579 can't win MVP if your front office is a complete 00:17:42.579 --> 00:17:45.779 disaster. Usually. Usually. And that leads us 00:17:45.779 --> 00:17:49.279 perfectly into the criteria or rather the unwritten 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:52.819 rules of winning because usually team success 00:17:52.819 --> 00:17:55.700 is paramount. But there are anomalies. There 00:17:55.700 --> 00:17:57.299 are heartbreaks. There are these moments where 00:17:57.299 --> 00:18:00.160 the voters did something completely unexpected. 00:18:00.460 --> 00:18:02.519 Yes. This is my favorite part of the research. 00:18:02.740 --> 00:18:05.220 The what -ifs and the statistical oddities. Let's 00:18:05.220 --> 00:18:07.519 start with the idea of the unanimous MVP. Okay. 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:09.839 You would think with guys like Jordan or Shaq 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:12.099 or the Braun guys who were so clearly head and 00:18:12.099 --> 00:18:13.920 shoulders above everyone else in their prime, 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:15.359 one of them would have swept the board maybe 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:18.000 multiple times. But that's not the case at all. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:21.660 No. It is shockingly, shockingly rare. In the 00:18:21.660 --> 00:18:24.259 entire history of the award, there was only one 00:18:24.259 --> 00:18:27.619 unanimous MVP, Stephen Curry, in the 2015 -16 00:18:27.619 --> 00:18:30.420 season. The year the Warriors won 73 games. The 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:33.180 73 -9 season. I mean, he completely changed the 00:18:33.180 --> 00:18:35.440 game that year. He was shooting from 30, 35 feet 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:37.559 like it was a layup. It was unreal. He received 00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:41.170 every single first place vote. It had never happened 00:18:41.170 --> 00:18:43.650 before. The narrative, the stats and the team 00:18:43.650 --> 00:18:46.529 success aligned so perfectly that there was literally 00:18:46.529 --> 00:18:49.750 no contrarian argument to be made. He break basketball. 00:18:49.890 --> 00:18:53.690 He broke it. But we have come agonizingly close 00:18:53.690 --> 00:18:55.829 on two other occasions. We have. We call this 00:18:55.829 --> 00:18:58.009 the one vote short club. This kills me every 00:18:58.009 --> 00:19:00.210 time I read about it. One vote away from perfection. 00:19:00.569 --> 00:19:02.509 Who are the members of this unfortunate club? 00:19:02.730 --> 00:19:06.730 First, Shaquille O 'Neal in the 1999 -2000 season. 00:19:07.069 --> 00:19:09.349 This was arguably the most dominant version of 00:19:09.349 --> 00:19:12.009 Shaq we ever saw. A -B -E, most dominant. He 00:19:12.009 --> 00:19:14.450 was destroying backboards, averaging nearly 30 00:19:14.450 --> 00:19:17.210 and 14. He was an unstoppable force of nature. 00:19:17.509 --> 00:19:21.990 He received 120 of 121 first place votes. 120 00:19:21.990 --> 00:19:24.990 out of 121. Okay, I have to ask. We need to name 00:19:24.990 --> 00:19:27.289 names here. Who is the spoiler? Who looked at 00:19:27.289 --> 00:19:29.650 2000 Shaq and said, nah, I'm good? The single 00:19:29.650 --> 00:19:31.990 dissenting vote came from Fred Hickman, who was 00:19:31.990 --> 00:19:34.589 a broadcaster for CNN at the time. And he cast 00:19:34.589 --> 00:19:36.750 his first place vote for Allen Iverson. Allen 00:19:36.750 --> 00:19:39.950 Iverson. Look, I love AI. The crossover, the 00:19:39.950 --> 00:19:43.809 culture, everything about him. But in 2000, was 00:19:43.809 --> 00:19:45.829 he better than Shaq that year? Statistically. 00:19:46.029 --> 00:19:49.109 Not even close. Team success. The Lakers won 00:19:49.109 --> 00:19:51.609 the championship. But Hickman's argument, his 00:19:51.609 --> 00:19:54.890 rationale, was that Iverson was more valuable 00:19:54.890 --> 00:19:58.410 to his specific team. Ah, the semantic argument. 00:19:58.609 --> 00:20:01.210 It's the classic trap. His point was that the 00:20:01.210 --> 00:20:03.069 76ers would have been the worst team in the league 00:20:03.069 --> 00:20:05.190 without him, whereas the Lakers still had Kobe 00:20:05.190 --> 00:20:07.329 Bryant and might have survived without Shaq. 00:20:07.450 --> 00:20:10.150 That is the ultimate best player versus most 00:20:10.150 --> 00:20:13.069 valuable semantic trap. That's just trying to 00:20:13.069 --> 00:20:15.869 be clever. It is. And Shaq took it very personally. 00:20:15.990 --> 00:20:18.069 He held a grudge against Fred Hickman for years. 00:20:18.650 --> 00:20:21.170 Over that one vote. He wanted that unanimous 00:20:21.170 --> 00:20:22.809 history. I don't blame him. And then it happened 00:20:22.809 --> 00:20:25.329 again, right? With LeBron. It did. The 2012 -13 00:20:25.329 --> 00:20:28.329 season. LeBron James with the Miami Heat. Again, 00:20:28.450 --> 00:20:30.829 arguably peak LeBron. His efficiency was off 00:20:30.829 --> 00:20:32.269 the charts. He was a first -team level defender. 00:20:32.569 --> 00:20:34.750 The Heat were a juggernaut. And he got it. He 00:20:34.750 --> 00:20:38.730 received 120 of 121 votes. Unbelievable. And 00:20:38.730 --> 00:20:41.190 the spoiler that time. A writer named Gary Washburn 00:20:41.190 --> 00:20:43.880 of the Boston Globe. A Boston writer voting against 00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:47.039 a LeBron -led Miami team. I'm shocked. That sounds 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:50.079 suspicious. Laughs. Well, Washburn swore up and 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:53.019 down it wasn't bias. He cast his vote for Carmelo 00:20:53.019 --> 00:20:56.099 Anthony. Mello. So Carmelo Anthony got one first 00:20:56.099 --> 00:20:59.900 place vote, denying LeBron a unanimous MVP. What 00:20:59.900 --> 00:21:02.500 was the logic there? Washburn's logic was very 00:21:02.500 --> 00:21:05.279 similar to Hickman's. He argued that the Knicks 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:08.000 winning 54 games and their division title that 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:11.640 year was entirely due to Mello's scoring. Whereas 00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:14.440 the Heat were this super team that would make 00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:16.779 the playoffs regardless of LeBron. I'm sorry, 00:21:16.819 --> 00:21:18.599 that just feels like overthinking it to an absurd 00:21:18.599 --> 00:21:21.220 degree. If you take the best player in the world 00:21:21.220 --> 00:21:23.519 off the court, that's the most value lost, period. 00:21:24.059 --> 00:21:26.279 Washburn overthought it. It just highlights how 00:21:26.279 --> 00:21:29.599 subjective the voting can be. You have 121 people 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:32.039 and all it takes is one person trying to be smart 00:21:32.039 --> 00:21:34.920 or different to ruin a historical moment. It's 00:21:34.920 --> 00:21:37.259 wild. But there are other anomalies that are 00:21:37.259 --> 00:21:40.099 even more statistically bizarre. For example, 00:21:40.099 --> 00:21:42.059 the idea of winning without making the playoffs. 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:43.759 Wait, I thought that was impossible. If your 00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:46.539 team is bad, you don't win MVP. That's like rule 00:21:46.539 --> 00:21:49.220 number one. Generally, that is the golden rule. 00:21:49.380 --> 00:21:51.799 If you aren't winning, your stats are considered 00:21:51.799 --> 00:21:55.700 empty calories. But there is one and only one 00:21:55.700 --> 00:21:58.240 exception in the history of the award. Who was 00:21:58.240 --> 00:22:02.180 it? Kareem Abdul -Jabbar, again in the 1975 -76 00:22:02.180 --> 00:22:05.059 season. He is the only player to win the award 00:22:05.059 --> 00:22:07.099 despite his team missing the playoffs entirely. 00:22:07.460 --> 00:22:10.599 How good was he that year to overcome that? Or 00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:12.779 how bad was the rest of the league? A little 00:22:12.779 --> 00:22:16.099 bit of both. The Lakers went 40 -42 that season. 00:22:16.180 --> 00:22:18.619 Not terrible, but not a playoff team in the West. 00:22:19.289 --> 00:22:23.109 But Kareem averaged 27 .7 points, 16 .9 rebounds, 00:22:23.109 --> 00:22:25.950 and 4 .1 blocks. He was a complete force of nature. 00:22:26.130 --> 00:22:28.170 But the team missed the playoffs. And remember, 00:22:28.269 --> 00:22:31.190 this was the player vote era. Ah, right. That's 00:22:31.190 --> 00:22:33.490 the key. The players didn't care about the standings 00:22:33.490 --> 00:22:35.130 as much. They just knew they couldn't stop him. 00:22:35.210 --> 00:22:37.529 Exactly. The players respected the individual 00:22:37.529 --> 00:22:40.470 dominance. If the media had been voting in 1976, 00:22:41.150 --> 00:22:43.240 Kareem probably doesn't win that award. they 00:22:43.240 --> 00:22:44.599 would have penalized him for the team's record. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:46.759 Speaking of standings, there's usually a benchmark, 00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:48.539 right? Like, you've got to win 50 games to even 00:22:48.539 --> 00:22:50.400 be in the conversation. That is the unwritten 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:52.880 rule, the rule of thumb. If you want to be MVP, 00:22:53.180 --> 00:22:55.759 your team usually needs to win 50 games. However, 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:00.839 since that 1975 -76 Kareem season, three players 00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:04.150 have defied this. if we exclude lockout -shortened 00:23:04.150 --> 00:23:06.589 seasons. Okay, who are the modern outliers? Moses 00:23:06.589 --> 00:23:09.990 Malone did it twice, actually, in 1978, 79, and 00:23:09.990 --> 00:23:13.829 1981, 82. He was just such a dominant rebounding 00:23:13.829 --> 00:23:16.490 machine on okay -ish teams that they gave it 00:23:16.490 --> 00:23:18.869 to him. A force of will. Then, much more recently, 00:23:18.970 --> 00:23:21.930 Russell Westbrook in 2016, 17. The triple -double 00:23:21.930 --> 00:23:24.509 season, of course. Correct. The historical magnitude 00:23:24.509 --> 00:23:27.170 of averaging a triple -double something we hadn't 00:23:27.170 --> 00:23:29.650 seen since Oscar Robertson in the 60s, it just 00:23:29.650 --> 00:23:31.309 outweighed the fact that the Thunder were a pretty 00:23:31.309 --> 00:23:34.319 medium. The narrative of he is doing the impossible. 00:23:34.839 --> 00:23:37.400 It was a story you couldn't ignore. And the third 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:56.740 one. The Joker. So it's rare, but it can happen 00:23:56.740 --> 00:24:00.160 when the individual performance is just so undeniable, 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:05.160 so historic, that you have to reward it. Who 00:24:05.160 --> 00:24:07.579 are the extremes on the timeline? On the young 00:24:07.579 --> 00:24:10.420 end of the spectrum, we have Derrick Rose. He 00:24:10.420 --> 00:24:14.819 won the award in 2011 at age 22. 22? I was barely 00:24:14.819 --> 00:24:16.920 figuring out how to do my own laundry at 22. 00:24:17.140 --> 00:24:19.359 He was the most valuable player of the entire 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:21.500 National Basketball Association. It was that 00:24:21.500 --> 00:24:23.920 incredible explosion of athleticism with the 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:25.660 Bulls. He felt like the future of the league. 00:24:26.299 --> 00:24:29.099 Sadly, of course, injuries completely derailed 00:24:29.099 --> 00:24:31.650 that trajectory. Such a shame. And on the other 00:24:31.650 --> 00:24:33.829 end, who's the old man of the MVP mountain? The 00:24:33.829 --> 00:24:36.410 oldest winner is Karl Malone, who won his second 00:24:36.410 --> 00:24:40.789 MVP in 1999 at age 35. 35. That's just pure old 00:24:40.789 --> 00:24:42.470 man strength. That's what happens when you spend 00:24:42.470 --> 00:24:44.630 20 years lifting weights in a barn in rural Utah. 00:24:44.829 --> 00:24:46.950 Incredible. What about rookies? Has a rookie 00:24:46.950 --> 00:24:48.769 ever walked into the league and just taken the 00:24:48.769 --> 00:24:51.880 trophy right away? It's nearly impossible. The 00:24:51.880 --> 00:24:54.240 learning curve in the modern NBA is just way 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:56.619 too steep. It hasn't happened in over 50 years. 00:24:56.740 --> 00:24:59.519 Only two players have ever done it. Wilt Chamberlain 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:04.839 in 1959 -60 and Wes Unseld in 1968 -69. Wilt 00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:07.259 and Wes. That's it. So if you're a rookie aiming 00:25:07.259 --> 00:25:10.009 for MVP, good luck. You're fighting all of history. 00:25:10.269 --> 00:25:12.549 It's a testament to how difficult that transition 00:25:12.549 --> 00:25:15.349 from college or overseas to the NBA usually is. 00:25:15.650 --> 00:25:18.430 But speaking of transitions, we have to talk 00:25:18.430 --> 00:25:21.029 about the biggest shift in the profile of the 00:25:21.029 --> 00:25:23.829 MVP winner over the last 30 years. The globalization 00:25:23.829 --> 00:25:27.190 of the game. Exactly. This is a huge topic. If 00:25:27.190 --> 00:25:29.150 you look at the list of winners from the 80s 00:25:29.150 --> 00:25:32.009 and 90s, it's all American -born players. Magic, 00:25:32.230 --> 00:25:36.940 Bird, Jordan, Barkley, Malone. But now... The 00:25:36.940 --> 00:25:39.299 map has been completely redrawn. It really started 00:25:39.299 --> 00:25:42.119 with Hakeem Olajuwon in 1994. He is considered 00:25:42.119 --> 00:25:43.920 the first international winner of the award. 00:25:44.119 --> 00:25:45.380 Now, there's a little bit of nuance there, right? 00:25:45.380 --> 00:25:48.079 Because he played for Team USA. There is. Hakeem 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:49.700 was born in Nigeria, but he played his college 00:25:49.700 --> 00:25:51.940 ball at the University of Houston, and he became 00:25:51.940 --> 00:25:55.059 a naturalized U .S. citizen in 1993. However, 00:25:55.299 --> 00:25:58.299 the NBA categorizes him as the pioneer of international 00:25:58.299 --> 00:26:01.559 MVPs because his formative basketball years were 00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:04.019 outside the traditional U .S. system. So Hakeem 00:26:04.019 --> 00:26:06.740 basically kicks the door open. Who are the other 00:26:06.740 --> 00:26:08.920 players who walked through it? Well, the list 00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:11.539 is fascinating because it represents so many 00:26:11.539 --> 00:26:13.819 different corners of the world and so many different 00:26:13.819 --> 00:26:17.200 styles of play. After Hakeem, you have Tim Duncan. 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:19.960 Now, Duncan is another one with an asterisk for 00:26:19.960 --> 00:26:22.240 some people. He is, and it's a fair point. He 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:25.000 played for Team USA, and he is a U .S. citizen, 00:26:25.180 --> 00:26:27.819 but he was born in the U .S. Virgin Islands and 00:26:27.819 --> 00:26:30.599 famously grew up as a competitive swimmer. The 00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:33.420 NBA counts him in their international tally. 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:36.380 Okay, so Duncan, then who? Then you have Steve 00:26:36.380 --> 00:26:39.279 Nash. Captain Canada. Born in South Africa, raised 00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:41.680 in British Columbia, Canada, a two -time winner. 00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:44.940 And think about Nash. He wasn't a physical freak. 00:26:45.480 --> 00:26:48.099 He beat you with skill, with passing, with shooting. 00:26:48.440 --> 00:26:51.380 That signaled a real change in what an international 00:26:51.380 --> 00:26:53.740 MVP could look like. He changed the game, and 00:26:53.740 --> 00:26:56.420 then Dirk. Then Dirk Nowitzki from Germany. He 00:26:56.420 --> 00:26:59.569 one -legged fadeaway. An unguardable shot from 00:26:59.569 --> 00:27:01.829 another continent. And then after Dirk, we hit 00:27:01.829 --> 00:27:03.910 the recent wave. This is where the dam doesn't 00:27:03.910 --> 00:27:06.289 just leak, it breaks completely. Yes, the last 00:27:06.289 --> 00:27:09.089 decade has been a takeover. You have Giannis 00:27:09.089 --> 00:27:11.869 Antetokounmpo from Greece, Nikola Jokic from 00:27:11.869 --> 00:27:15.289 Serbia, Joel Embiid from Cameroon, who, like 00:27:15.289 --> 00:27:17.450 Olajuwon, became a U .S. citizen later in his 00:27:17.450 --> 00:27:20.630 career, and finally, the current holder, Shai 00:27:20.630 --> 00:27:23.349 Gilgis -Alexander from Canada. It's actually 00:27:23.349 --> 00:27:25.269 incredible when you look at that recent timeline. 00:27:25.369 --> 00:27:27.869 The last... What, six, seven years have been 00:27:27.869 --> 00:27:30.289 completely dominated by international players. 00:27:31.430 --> 00:27:34.089 Why do you think that is? What happened? It's 00:27:34.089 --> 00:27:36.349 a huge topic of debate in basketball circles. 00:27:37.009 --> 00:27:39.769 Many experts point to the differences in youth 00:27:39.769 --> 00:27:42.410 development systems. How so? In Europe and other 00:27:42.410 --> 00:27:44.750 parts of the world, young players often join 00:27:44.750 --> 00:27:47.150 professional academies where they learn fundamentals, 00:27:47.349 --> 00:27:50.609 footwork, passing, shooting, team concepts. from 00:27:50.609 --> 00:27:52.569 a very young age. It's more structured. Very. 00:27:52.890 --> 00:27:56.150 In the U .S., the AAU system, for all its benefits, 00:27:56.509 --> 00:27:59.390 often prioritizes raw athleticism and one -on 00:27:59.390 --> 00:28:01.630 -one highlight real play over those fundamentals. 00:28:01.970 --> 00:28:04.170 So while the American kids are learning to dunk 00:28:04.170 --> 00:28:06.269 and cross people up, the European kids are learning 00:28:06.269 --> 00:28:08.230 how to actually play the game of basketball. 00:28:08.410 --> 00:28:11.829 In a reductive sense, yes. Look at Jokic. He 00:28:11.829 --> 00:28:14.329 famously can't jump over a phone book, but his 00:28:14.329 --> 00:28:16.329 understanding of angles and timing and leverage 00:28:16.329 --> 00:28:19.299 is at a genius level. Look at Luka Donicic, who 00:28:19.299 --> 00:28:21.259 hasn't won MVP yet but is always in the mix. 00:28:21.579 --> 00:28:23.779 The skill level of the international big men 00:28:23.779 --> 00:28:27.200 specifically has, for now, surpassed that of 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:30.579 the American bigs. It's not just a blip. It really 00:28:30.579 --> 00:28:32.819 is a takeover. If you look at the stretch starting 00:28:32.819 --> 00:28:35.140 with Giannis, then Jokic winning three times 00:28:35.140 --> 00:28:40.019 2021, 22 and 24 plus Embiid and now SGA. The 00:28:40.019 --> 00:28:41.980 American born superstar has been shut out of 00:28:41.980 --> 00:28:44.160 the top spot for years. It signals a fundamental 00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:46.700 change. The global game has arrived and it's 00:28:46.700 --> 00:28:48.859 at the summit. The best players in the world 00:28:48.859 --> 00:28:51.000 are no longer exclusively coming from Chicago 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:53.680 or New York or L .A. They're coming from Sambor, 00:28:53.779 --> 00:28:56.660 Serbia and Athens, Greece and Toronto, Canada. 00:28:57.049 --> 00:28:59.069 It's a different league now. So we've got international 00:28:59.069 --> 00:29:01.650 dominance. We've got changing voters, changing 00:29:01.650 --> 00:29:04.150 trophies. But there is one more massive change 00:29:04.150 --> 00:29:06.910 that was introduced very, very recently. The 00:29:06.910 --> 00:29:09.990 lawyer era of the NBA, as I like to call it. 00:29:10.029 --> 00:29:13.369 Plus the CBA era. The 65 game rule. This is critical. 00:29:13.549 --> 00:29:16.029 This is the new machinery that every player, 00:29:16.089 --> 00:29:19.109 fan and voter has to understand. To understand 00:29:19.109 --> 00:29:21.529 the 65 game rule, you have to go back to the 00:29:21.529 --> 00:29:25.910 mid 2010s. Science. really entered the locker 00:29:25.910 --> 00:29:28.990 room. The analytics of the body. Exactly. Teams 00:29:28.990 --> 00:29:31.490 started hiring biometric staff who said, hey, 00:29:31.650 --> 00:29:34.529 the human body isn't meant to play 82 games on 00:29:34.529 --> 00:29:36.849 concrete at this intensity. It's suboptimal. 00:29:36.970 --> 00:29:39.630 Yeah. So we entered the era of load management. 00:29:39.869 --> 00:29:42.490 Which logically makes perfect sense for a franchise 00:29:42.490 --> 00:29:44.750 that's trying to protect its $200 million asset. 00:29:44.970 --> 00:29:46.990 You want them healthy for the playoffs. Of course. 00:29:47.150 --> 00:29:49.210 But for the fan who buys the ticket. It was a 00:29:49.210 --> 00:29:52.049 disaster for the product. Imagine a family saving 00:29:52.049 --> 00:29:54.529 up $600 to go see the Clippers play. They drive 00:29:54.529 --> 00:29:57.529 two hours, pay for parking, get the kids a jersey, 00:29:57.650 --> 00:30:00.269 and then find out Chloe Leonard is sitting out 00:30:00.269 --> 00:30:02.529 not because he's hurt, but because it's a Tuesday 00:30:02.529 --> 00:30:04.450 and they want to rest him for a bigger game on 00:30:04.450 --> 00:30:06.690 Thursday. It broke the social contract with the 00:30:06.690 --> 00:30:08.829 fans. It completely broke the contract of I pay 00:30:08.829 --> 00:30:11.990 money, you play basketball. Sure. The NBA realized 00:30:11.990 --> 00:30:13.829 they were selling a product that wasn't being 00:30:13.829 --> 00:30:16.259 delivered consistently. And their broadcast partners 00:30:16.259 --> 00:30:19.539 were probably furious. They were. So in the collective 00:30:19.539 --> 00:30:21.220 bargaining agreement that took effect with the 00:30:21.220 --> 00:30:24.640 2023 -24 season, the league and the Players Association 00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:28.460 drew a hard line in the sand. The 65 -game rule 00:30:28.460 --> 00:30:31.259 wasn't just about awards. It was a desperate 00:30:31.259 --> 00:30:33.599 attempt to reestablish that social contract. 00:30:34.089 --> 00:30:35.890 So what does it say exactly? The rule states 00:30:35.890 --> 00:30:40.170 to be eligible for MVP and other major awards 00:30:40.170 --> 00:30:43.509 like all NBA teams, a player must appear in at 00:30:43.509 --> 00:30:46.589 least 65 games. No exceptions. I mean, what if 00:30:46.589 --> 00:30:49.470 you play 64 games and you average 50 points and 00:30:49.470 --> 00:30:51.910 cure a disease at halftime of every game? You 00:30:51.910 --> 00:30:54.599 are ineligible. The rule is strict. And there 00:30:54.599 --> 00:30:56.460 is, of course, some very important fine print. 00:30:56.660 --> 00:30:59.380 A game only officially counts towards that total 00:30:59.380 --> 00:31:01.079 if the player's on the court for at least 20 00:31:01.079 --> 00:31:03.200 minutes. Ah, so you can't just check in for five 00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:05.799 seconds, commit a foul, wave to the crowd, and 00:31:05.799 --> 00:31:07.660 leave to keep your streak alive. Correct. They 00:31:07.660 --> 00:31:09.839 thought of that loophole and closed it. However, 00:31:10.039 --> 00:31:13.119 there are very narrow exceptions. To near misses, 00:31:13.319 --> 00:31:15.799 where a player plays between 15 and 19 minutes, 00:31:15.940 --> 00:31:18.519 can count toward the 65. Okay, so that helps 00:31:18.519 --> 00:31:20.059 a little for nights where maybe you twist an 00:31:20.059 --> 00:31:22.240 ankle early in the game or get into foul trouble. 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:25.440 Exactly. There are also protections for legitimate 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:28.539 season -ending injuries. If you've played 62 00:31:28.539 --> 00:31:31.160 games and then suffer an injury that is certified 00:31:31.160 --> 00:31:33.940 to end your season, you might still be eligible. 00:31:34.259 --> 00:31:37.519 I see. And there's a vague clause for... bad 00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:40.200 faith circumstances, which is likely to prevent 00:31:40.200 --> 00:31:42.700 teams from benching healthy players against their 00:31:42.700 --> 00:31:46.480 will to sabotage their award chances or more 00:31:46.480 --> 00:31:49.240 importantly, their contract bonuses tied to those 00:31:49.240 --> 00:31:51.500 awards. But the big picture, the main takeaway 00:31:51.500 --> 00:31:54.609 is. Availability is now a legal requirement for 00:31:54.609 --> 00:31:57.450 greatness. It's not just a nice to have on your 00:31:57.450 --> 00:32:00.130 resume. It completely changes the strategy. You 00:32:00.130 --> 00:32:02.849 cannot just be the best player on a permanent 00:32:02.849 --> 00:32:05.250 basis anymore. You have to be the best player 00:32:05.250 --> 00:32:07.329 who is also durable enough to be out there for 00:32:07.329 --> 00:32:09.910 most of the season. It forces the stars to be 00:32:09.910 --> 00:32:12.309 on the floor. And we saw the impact immediately 00:32:12.309 --> 00:32:14.930 in its first season. Instantly. Players who might 00:32:14.930 --> 00:32:16.890 have sat out before were playing through nagging 00:32:16.890 --> 00:32:19.509 injuries in March and April just to hit that 00:32:19.509 --> 00:32:22.309 65 number. Which, as a fan, I kind of love because 00:32:22.309 --> 00:32:24.529 I get to see them play. But it definitely adds 00:32:24.529 --> 00:32:26.789 a massive hurdle for guys who are naturally more 00:32:26.789 --> 00:32:29.609 injury -prone. Joel Embiid lost his chance at 00:32:29.609 --> 00:32:32.690 a reteat MVP specifically because of this rule. 00:32:32.990 --> 00:32:35.450 He did. He was having a historic, maybe even 00:32:35.450 --> 00:32:38.470 better season than his first MVP year. He got 00:32:38.470 --> 00:32:41.349 hurt, fell below the 65 -game threshold, and 00:32:41.349 --> 00:32:43.329 was instantly and officially removed from the 00:32:43.329 --> 00:32:46.809 conversation. It redefines value to explicitly 00:32:46.809 --> 00:32:49.490 include availability. So let's bring this all 00:32:49.490 --> 00:32:51.609 back home then. We've gone from Bob Pettit in 00:32:51.609 --> 00:32:55.029 1956 receiving a trophy voted on by his fellow 00:32:55.029 --> 00:32:57.750 players. A simple process. All the way to shy 00:32:57.750 --> 00:33:01.069 Gilgis Alexander in 2025 receiving the Michael 00:33:01.069 --> 00:33:04.170 Jordan trophy under these strict CBA mandated 00:33:04.170 --> 00:33:07.750 game count rules voted on by a global media panel. 00:33:07.970 --> 00:33:09.630 It's a journey from a peer reviewed acknowledgement. 00:33:10.250 --> 00:33:12.829 a simple handshake among giants, to a global 00:33:12.829 --> 00:33:15.069 media spectacle governed by complex eligibility 00:33:15.069 --> 00:33:17.869 criteria and weighted mathematics. The trophy 00:33:17.869 --> 00:33:20.289 has changed names. The voters have changed professions. 00:33:20.569 --> 00:33:23.250 The winners have changed nationalities. But the 00:33:23.250 --> 00:33:25.710 core idea remains the same, doesn't it? Who owned 00:33:25.710 --> 00:33:27.890 the lead this year? Exactly. Who defined the 00:33:27.890 --> 00:33:29.349 season? That's what we're all trying to answer. 00:33:29.609 --> 00:33:31.869 So here is the thought I want to leave you with, 00:33:31.930 --> 00:33:34.089 the thing for you to chew on as you watch this 00:33:34.089 --> 00:33:38.190 season unfold. We now have a system where the 00:33:38.190 --> 00:33:41.569 media votes, the fans have a tiny say, and the 00:33:41.569 --> 00:33:44.670 rulebook demands you play at least 65 games. 00:33:45.029 --> 00:33:48.210 Are we seeing a fundamental shift where availability 00:33:48.210 --> 00:33:50.930 is becoming valued even higher than peak performance? 00:33:51.230 --> 00:33:53.950 If the next Michael Jordan comes along and plays 00:33:53.950 --> 00:33:56.849 60 unbelievable games but averages 45 points? 00:33:57.609 --> 00:33:59.750 Under these rules, he can't be MVP. He's not 00:33:59.750 --> 00:34:02.849 even on the ballot. Are we OK with that? Does 00:34:02.849 --> 00:34:05.490 the award still measure the best player or is 00:34:05.490 --> 00:34:07.490 it now officially measuring the best available 00:34:07.490 --> 00:34:09.849 player? That is the question of this new era. 00:34:10.329 --> 00:34:12.250 And I think the answer to that is going to define 00:34:12.250 --> 00:34:14.849 the next decade of NBA history. Thanks for taking 00:34:14.849 --> 00:34:16.409 the deep dive with us. We'll see you next time.