Before the Timberwolves and Nuggets, NBA commissioner Xiao Hua was personally present to present Jokic with the MVP trophy for the season. This is also the third time in Jokic's career that he has been elected MVP, surpassing Antetokounmpo and Curry, ranking second highest on the active roster, behind James. Jokic is the MVP three times in four years, and James is a bit stronger, with four wins in five years. But in fact, James has been an MVP candidate for most of his career and has been able to get some votes. In 4 of them, James ranked second on the MVP list, which gods did he lose to?
In 2006, James led the team to the playoffs for the first time, when the Cavaliers achieved a 50-32 record, James' personal data was 31.4 points, 7 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.8 blocks, with a shooting rate of 48%, which can be said to be impeccable in all aspects, and the scoring is even the highest value of his career. You must know that the Cavaliers back then did not have another All-Star level player except for James.
But the MVP was finally given to Nash, and Nash was still the MVP of the second consecutive year, that year one of the core of the Suns Stoudemire only played 3 games due to injury, and there were serious injuries among the bench players, under this premise, Nash still led the team to a record of 54 wins, and could rank third in the West. Nash's data is 18.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 10.8 assists, he is the league's assist king, which can be described as the brains of the team and the engine on the offensive end. James got 21.17 percent of the vote and Nash had 28.43 percent, and the two were actually very close.
There are many people who think that 2011, the year James didn't get the MVP in 5 years, is second, but it is not. That year's MVP was Rose, second was Howard, and third was James. He finished second on the MVP list for the second time, in fact, in 2014, when the Heat's record dropped sharply due to the aging of the roster, and they won 12 fewer games than in 13 years. And Durant, who was injured and missed most of the season, still led the Thunder to 59 wins, and he is still the scoring champion, and his performance is indeed better than James. This year, Durant got 37.91% of the votes, more than 10% ahead of James, and he really lost unjustly.
In 2018, the year when fans called "Thanos Zhan", the internal turmoil of the Knights was very serious, and the opponent was very strong, so it can be said that there were internal and external troubles. But James still led the Cavaliers to the playoffs, with a record of 50 wins, and his personal data was 27.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, 9.1 assists and 1.4 steals, which is indeed a very strong level. However, Harden's average of 30.4 points per game is the league's leading scorer, and the Rockets' record reaches 65 wins, both of which are the first, and in the final vote rate, Harden also surpassed James by 8% and was successfully elected.
The last time was in 2020, that is, in the shrinking season, the Lakers were the first in the West, and James was the assist king, but the MVP was won by Brother Alphabet. At that time, the Lakers' record was actually very close to the Bucks, and if they continued to play, they were likely to overtake. But unfortunately, due to the epidemic, the schedule was shortened, which also caused James to miss the MVP.