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According to the latest odds released this week from BetOnline, LeBron James is currently slotted third in the race to become the NBA’s MVP in 2020. But that’s not how former Los Angeles Lakers front office executive and Hall of Fame point guard Magic Johnson sees the NBA’s most prestigious regular-season honor playing out. According to Magic, LeBron will “definitely be the league MVP” if he keeps up his current pace.
Despite monster performances so far from 2019 MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and 2018 MVP James Harden–who currently own the two best odds of winning the MVP this season–Magic believes the work LeBron is putting in could propel him past each of those primary contenders. When you look at LeBron’s numbers combined with the success of his team so far–who has earned the best record in the league early on at 12-2–it’s fair to suggest that Magic has a valid point on this one.
LeBron this season is averaging 25 points & 11.1 assists making him #1 in assists. If he continues at this pace he will definitely be the league MVP this season! No one is playing better than him & what’s scary is his story is still being written!
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) November 20, 2019
LeBron is leading the NBA in assists with 11.1 per contest while scoring 25 points and grabbing 7.9 rebounds per game. He also ranks sixth in the NBA in PER with a rating of 28.49 so far. Harden, meanwhile, is pouring in a remarkable 39.4 points per game during the first month of the NBA season to lead the league. He is actually scoring 7.9 points more than Giannis on a nightly basis who ranks second in that category. While averaging 30 points per night, the Bucks big man is also collecting 14 rebounds and dishing out six assists.
During LeBron’s first MVP season in 2009 he averaged 28.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.2 assists by comparison. In 2013, his most recent MVP campaign, James finished the year with 26.8 points, eight rebounds and 7.4 assists while shooting a career-best 56.5% from the floor. He never averaged double-digit assists in any season of his career, however, and the 7.9 rebounds are above his career average as well so maybe Magic is on to something with his MVP prediction.
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