The NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award was given to Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks in June 2019 and most fans believed that Antetokounmpo deserved the award.
James Harden from the Houston Rockets does not share that same sentiment as he thought he should have been the one to have received the award.
Despite bowing out in the Western Conference finals with a 3-4 series loss to the Golden State Warriors in the 2017-18 Season, the Houston Rockets superstar Harden clinched the MVP award on the back of his impressive stats and performance last year.
He believed that he had done enough during the 2018-2019 season to receive a second consecutive MVP award.
In the voting for the MVP award, Antetokounmpo received 941 points and 78 first-place votes, while Harden finished second with 776 points and 23 first-place votes.
During the 2018-19 Season, Harden broke a handful of records, among them a 32-game streak scoring at least 30 points, a historic feat surpassed only by NBA icon Wilt Chamberlain who boasts 65 consecutive wins between November 1961 to February 1962. In a March 2019 game with the Sacramento Kings, Harden mounted his fifth career 50-point triple-double, the most of any player in NBA history.
When the Rockets beat Phoenix Suns in April 2019 with a 149–113 scoreline, Harden cemented his place as one of the greats with a great performance that included 30 points, 13-rebound, nine-assist, and two-steals. He broke a number of NBA records: becoming the second NBA player in history (behind only Michael Jordan) to record at least 2,700 points, 500 assists, and 500 rebounds in a single season; as well as joining Jordan as only one of two players who have been able to average at least 30 points, seven assists, five rebounds, and two steals in a single year.
However, despite these impressive performances, Harden had to settle for second place as Giannis Antetokounmpo walked away with the MVP award.
Harden said his 2018-19 Season run will definitely be one for the books, but underscored that he may have fallen short of the MPV award because sports reporters were backing a different more compelling narrative – all the while hounding his volume scoring.
In a radio interview (below at 6:10) , the seven-time NBA All-Star explained how he saw the media getting behind Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks effectively sidelining Harden despite his record-breaking streak.
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The upcoming NBA season will see Harden reuniting with former Oklahoma Thunder teammate Russell Westbrook, after the Rockets traded away Chris Paul. Westbrook beat Harden for the 2017 MVP award.
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