Skip Bayless takes to Twitter to crown James Harden as the 2021 MVP, shunting Los Angeles Lakers star, LeBron James to the side.
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This 2021 MVP race will go down as one of the closest we’ve had in recent history. Going into the All-Star break, it was apparent that Sixers big-man Joel Embiid was slightly more deserving of MVP honors over guys like LeBron James and Nikola Jokic.
After all, Embiid was averaging 30 and 12 while leading Philly to the number one seed out East. However, following Embiid’s left leg injury that has ruled him out for 2-3 weeks, the MVP race is wide open.
The Philly star might not even be in consideration for the award as he would’ve missed nearly 30% of all regular season games. Availability is a big factor in crowning someone the MVP.
LeBron James was the clear front-runner for winning the MVP at the start of the season. His campaign took a hit after Anthony Davis went down with injury and the Lakers started to spiral into a bevy of losses.
Skip Bayless suggests James Harden be crowned the MVP over LeBron James
James Harden has been running the Brooklyn Nets offense to near perfection ever since his arrival. After being named the de facto point guard for the Nets, Harden has been racking up otherworldly assists numbers while also scoring around 25 points a game.
In last night’s game against the Indian Pacers, Harden led the shorthanded Nets to a sizeable win over the Indiana Pacers after dropping a 42 point triple-double, clearly impressing Skip Bayless.
Move over, LeBron. James Harden should be right in the middle of the MVP race now. Without Kyrie and KD, Harden just went for 40/15/10 with 2 steals as the Nets won at Indiana. That’s 14 of 15 for the #NothingButNets
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) March 18, 2021
James Harden’s case for MVP is quite compelling. Even top analysts such as Zach Lowe and Kirk Goldsberry seem to agree that Harden deserves to be up there right along with LeBron James and Nikola Jokic.
He has been the most consistent player on the Nets and is putting up MVP-caliber numbers while leading Brooklyn to a top 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. If Harden were to win the MVP, he would be the first player in NBA history to win it after being traded mid-season.
