The NBA Most Valuable Player Award is a Big Deal. We like it when national media introduce our favorite players into “the conversation”. Players who actually win have “NBA MVP” appended to their name for eternity, no matter how well or poorly they play afterwards. It’s a career-changing event.
Ironically, the moment of crystal clarity is preceded by a messy glop of ill timing, indistinct criteria, and a basic lack of definition. Even if we never fully agree on the eventual winner, refining the process would help us understand what we’re disagreeing about.
The 2016-17 MVP race came down to the wire between James Harden and Russell Westbrook.