Shaquille O'Neal: FMVP Legend

The NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (FMVP) is awarded after each Finals to the best performer of the entire series. Understanding it is the key to grasping the weight of Shaq's three straight FMVPs.

The FMVP is decided by media vote, usually announced after the final game. It looks at the whole series, not a single outburst — so winning it three years running means you were the most stable, irreplaceable player in three Finals. That's why three straight FMVPs are so rare: they demand not one peak, but three straight peaks.

Take Shaq: 2000 he averaged 38 and 16.7 boards, 2001 he put up 33 and 15.8, 2002 he averaged 36.3 and 12.3, with absurd Finals field-goal percentages each year. Every Lakers title, the FMVP went to him without dispute. Not "vote-splitting" or "teammates yielding," but data, impact and winning contribution all pointing the same way.

The FMVP differs from the regular-season MVP: the latter is an 82-game marathon; the FMVP is only the final stage to the ring. Many are untouchable in the regular season yet never touch the FMVP, because Finals defense and targeting are completely different. Shaq's terror was bringing his regular-season dominance intact to the Finals, and getting meaner on the biggest stage.

So when we say "Shaq is a three-time FMVP," we mean: on the strongest stage at the turn of the century, he was the man who decided the champion for three straight years. That is the meaning of the FMVP, and the most direct medal of Shaq's center dominance.

Related Reading

• 2001 NBA Finals MVP: Shaquille O'Neal (Los Angeles Lakers)
• 2002 NBA Finals MVP: Shaquille O'Neal (Los Angeles Lakers)
• 2000 NBA Finals MVP: Shaquille O'Neal (Los Angeles Lakers)
• O'Neal's Three-Year FMVP Run to Immortality
• Shaquille O'Neal: Glory and Idol— When the Strongest Giant Became the Most Likable Symbol