USA TODAY International Edition
Harden, James, Davis vie for MVP honors
The finishing touches on the 2017-18 NBA season will come Monday at the second annual NBA Awards show in Santa Monica, California (9 p.m. ET, TNT).
The league will announce the winners of the season’s individual awards, with MVP the crown jewel. The awards were voted on by a panel of media members before the start of the playoffs.
James Harden, LeBron James and Anthony Davis were announced as MVP finalists in May. So who has the edge among the trio of superstars?
Harden is the presumptive favorite to win his first MVP award after finishing second in the voting last season to Russell Westbrook.
Harden was also second to Steph Curry in 2014-15. James is a four-time MVP who would tie Bill Russell and Michael Jordan for second-most all time with a fifth.
Davis is a defensive stalwart whose all-around game fully bloomed to put him position for his first MVP award.
Comparing the finalists’ 2017-18 resumes:
James Harden
❚ Averages (per game): 30.4 points, 8.8 assists, 5.4 rebounds, 1.8 steals
❚ Shooting percentages: 44.9 overall, 36.7 3-point, 85.8 free throw
❚ Unanimous first-team All-NBA Harden quickly shut down the preseason worries about playing alongside Chris Paul and won his first scoring title while leading the Rockets to a leaguebest 65-17 record.
With Paul helping shoulder the playmaking load, Harden took his isolation game to a new level and led a high-octane offense that averaged just over 15 3-pointers a game.
LeBron James
❚ Averages (per game): 27.5 points, 9.1 assists, 8.6 rebounds, 1.4 steals
❚ Shooting percentages: 54.2 overall, 36.7 3-point, 73.1 free throw
❚ Unanimous first-team All-NBA
In his 15th season, James put together perhaps the finest all-around performance of his career. He led the Cavaliers in total points, rebounds, assists, blocked shots and steals while playing all 82 regular-season games for the first time and leading the NBA in minutes.
Anthony Davis
❚ Averages (per game): 28.1 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.6 blocked shots, 1.5 steals
❚ Shooting percentages: 53.4 overall, 34.0 3-point, 82.8 free throw
❚ First-team All-NBA and first-team All-Defense
Davis staked his claim as the best allaround big man in the league with a season that rivals the greats of the game. He became just the fourth player to average at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, 2.5 blocked shots and 1.5 steals per game, according to Basketball-reference (since blocked shots and steals were first recorded in the 1973-74 season). The other three are in the Hall of Fame: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson.