Thetitle"MostValuablePlayer,"placedonBillRussell,wasneverjustaplaque.HewontheLea
Thewords"mostvaluable"arethehardesthonortoquantifyintheNBA.Ascoringtitlemeasures
ShaquilleO'Nealwononlyoneregular-seasonMVPinhiscareer(2000),afactoftenmisreadinl
Thethreeletters"MVP"readtwowaysonKobeBryant.Narrowly,itisthe2008regular-seasontr
TotalkaboutKevinDurant's"value,"onemustfirstclearafrequentlyconfuseddistinction:
"MostValuable."Whentheleaguehandedthosethreewordstothesamemanfivetimes(1988,1991
Thetitle"MostValuablePlayer"istodayoneofthemostdiscussedindividualhonorsinbasket
Thephrase"MostValuablePlayer,"placedbesideWiltChamberlain,wasneverjustatrophy.He
Thewords"MostValuablePlayer,"placedonMagicJohnson,weighmorethanthetrophyitself.H
Whenthetitle"MostValuablePlayer"landsonDuncan,itweighsmoreheavilythanonalmostany
"MostValuable."InGarnett'scasethesethreewordswereneverafootnoteonastatsheet,buta
Thefivewords"MostValuablePlayer"wereneverapurestatisticscontestintheNBA;theyarea