MVP races with more than 2-3 candidates?

[Roundball_Rock]

This has come up in a few threads. It seems every year MVP is down to 2-3 players (sometimes there is a clear choice like MJ in 96'). Are there any years where there were more than 2-3 viable candidates? Separately, is there any year where a 4th or 5th person should have been in the discussion but was not?

What we are talking about here are people in the conversation to actually be MVP, not finish 5th. These are the people who wind up in the "MVP" articles, discussed on TV when MVP comes up, etc. For instance, this year it is two: Giannis and LeBron. Harden, Luka, Davis will finish 3-5 in some order but aren't in the conversation to actually win MVP.

1962 is a year where there may have been four but an older poster or someone viewing reporting from back then would have to confirm who actually had a shot.

[kawhileonard2]

2006

https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_2006.html#mvp

[Naero]

The Seventies—a decade of parity if the NBA ever had one—seemed to have multiple several-horse races. I wasn't around back then to follow the discussions, but it's evident more than a few were within striking distance some years; see 1975 (https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_1975.html) and 1976 (https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_1976.html), for instance, where Kareem, Dave Cowens, Elvin Hayes, Rick Barry, and Bob McAdoo were all competitive vote-getters.

It was more open-ended back then because players, who weren't held as accountable for their selections, voted for the award. Some of the above-named candidates wouldn't even be in the conversation by today's criteria; never mind winning it without even making the playoffs like Kareem in 1976.

Then the media started voting for it in the Eighties, and they eventually hewed to unwritten rules: targetting the clear-cut leader on a top-two seed or a player engineering a historical season (a la Westbrook in 2017).

The current criteria in itself almost precludes more than 2-3 viable candidates, and it's effectively been a single-horse race for the past-several years partly because of it. Even with multiple players "in the conversation," four of the past-five MVP winners (including Giannis this year) have all but cemented the award halfway through their respective seasons.

[AussieSteve]

1990 was a year when the player who won didn't actually win...

https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_1990.html#mvp

[Roundball_Rock]

The Seventies—a decade of parity if the NBA ever had one—seemed to have multiple several-horse races. I wasn't around back then to follow the discussions, but it's evident more than a few were within striking distance some years; see 1975 (https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_1975.html) and 1976 (https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_1976.html), for instance, where Kareem, Dave Cowens, Elvin Hayes, Rick Barry, and Bob McAdoo were all competitive vote-getters.

It was more open-ended back then because players, who weren't held as accountable for their choices, voted for the award. Some of the above-named candidates wouldn't even be in the conversation by today's criteria; never mind winning it without even making the playoffs like Kareem in 1976.

Then the media started voting for the award in the Eighties, and they eventually hewed to unwritten rules: targetting the clear-cut leader on a top-two seed or a player engineering a historical season (a la Westbrook in 2017).

The current criteria in itself almost precludes more than 2-3 viable candidates, and it's effectively been a single-horse race for the past-several years. Even with multiple players "in the conversation," four of the past-five MVP winners (including Giannis this year) have all but cemented the award halfway through their respective seasons.

Good post. Why did they switch from players to the media voting for MVP? It seems a bad move--we can get the media's take via all-NBA.

[Shooter]

1990 was a year when the player who won didn't actually win...

https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_1990.html#mvp

Interesting find.

Chuck had the most 1st place votes, but Magic won MVP with more overall votes.

[Naero]

Good post. Why did they switch from players to the media voting for MVP? It seems a bad move--we can get the media's take via all-NBA.

Not sure about the rationale, but I'd say it's probably within the tapestry of the NBA's expansion and popularization.

The NBA-ABA merger, which happened just four years before the voting switchover, probably spurred it the most. It was even harder to trust the players' impartiality after that, because there was likely still a schism between long-time NBAers and former ABAers. It was probably a good PR move to switch from them, too, given the league's checkered decade of drug-addicted players.

Between that merger and more expansionary teams, the league was also too unwieldy for players to follow and study anyone intensively outside of their own team and playoffs opponents. Thanks to expanded TV contracts and the NBA's burgeoning popularity, media coverage broadened up enough to entrust the press with the voting.

I don't know what the ideal voting system would be, but I wouldn't want to empanel just players for it; for all their knowledge about the game, they're just too biased and unscholarly about the rest of the league. The media has their own agendas, and they certainly don't know the game's nuances as well as players and coaches, but I'd trust them to make their decisions more objectively.

[AussieSteve]

Interesting find.

Chuck had the most 1st place votes, but Magic won MVP with more overall votes.

Chuck also won the SN MVP, which was the leading non-official MVP until a few years back. It usually gave a better indication of the true MVP imo.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/tsn_mvp.html

[Roundball_Rock]

Chuck also won the SN MVP, which was the leading non-official MVP until a few years back. It usually gave a better indication of the true MVP imo.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/tsn_mvp.html

Interesting results. The biggest loser after glancing at the list is Magic, who has only 1 from SN compared to 3 actual MVP's. SN also loves MJ as he goes from 5 to 7 while Kareem and Wilt don't gain any extra MVP's