The regular-season awards in the NBA are starting to come out one after the other. Earlier on Thursday, Andrew Wiggins was named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in a landslide with Jordan Clarkson of the Los Angeles Lakers coming in seventh in the voting.
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With the league’s best rookie being named, only one major regular-season award remains and it is the biggest of them all. The winner of the NBA MVP has yet to be announced, but the consensus is it’s a two-man race between the Houston Rockets’ James Harden and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
Superstar Kobe Bryant chimed in on the debate with Michael Yo of Yahoo’s The Insider and gave his pick of who he believes should win the award this season, via The Beast 980:
Bryant explained to Yo, “That is a tough call, you have James [Harden] who has been playing consistent all through the season. Steph [Curry], who has been doing phenomenal things. That is a tough call for me but I would have to say James [Harden].”
He goes on to say, “[James Harden] had to keep that team afloat. I think the team actually got better, when he went down. Which is hard to do. So I think with the responsibilities he had to deal with this season I’d vote James [Harden].”
There’s no question both Harden and Curry are worthy of the award with both players having incredible seasons that have continued on into the NBA playoffs. It isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that the Rockets and Warriors face off in the Western Conference Finals with both teams leaning on their superstars to lead the way.
Although Golden State is currently the favorite to advance to the NBA Finals, Harden single-handedly makes the Rockets a compelling team moving forward and a tough challenge for any team they face.
It’ll be interesting to see which star player eventually gets named the league’s MVP and if that player can guide his team to an NBA title at season’s end.
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