Cavs’ J.R. Smith Suggests ‘We All Know’ LeBron James Is The Real NBA MVP

Understandably, LeBron James’ return to Miami will make the Christmas headlines.

The race for the MVP award in the NBA has come down to the final day of the regular season. Only two candidates are really getting any buzz for the award with Stephen Curry and James Harden leading the way, but some believe LeBron James should be more involved in the conversation, if not the frontrunner to win the award.

After four straight NBA Finals appearances and two NBA titles with the Miami Heat, LeBron decided to change teams once again this past summer. LeBron surprised a lot of people by choosing to go back to Cleveland rather than stay with the Heat or sign with another team.

Although LeBron got off to a rough start in Cleveland this season, the Cavaliers have emerge as legitimate title contenders once again, mostly due to the veteran’s resurgence in the second half of the season. James has turned the Cavaliers back into a force to be reckoned with and may very well lead the team to title at season’s end.

Recently, LeBron’s teammate J.R. Smith dubbed James as the “real MVP” this season saying the following, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin:

“Who? The real MVP?” Smith said … “There’s a lot of speculation about who should get the award, but we all know who the real MVP is.” …

“In actuality, if you really wanted to, you could give it to him every year,” Smith said of James, who won the award four times in his first 11 seasons in the league. “I mean, the numbers, what he does for teams. You see one year removed from a team like Miami — and they probably won’t even make the playoffs — to a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since he left and then, all of the sudden, we’re a 52-win team. So, I don’t think you can do that with anybody else that’s in our league right now.

“Not to knock anything from the other two guys [Stephen Curry and James Harden]. They’re having great years, career years for both of them, but if you want to be realistic about it, you could give it to him every time.”

With the Golden State Warriors ending their season with the league’s best record and Curry as the undisputed leader in the Bay Area, it’ll come as no surprise that the veteran guard is named NBA MVP in the coming weeks. Curry has gone from another talented guard in the league to arguably the best player at his position while turning the Warriors into the best team in the West.

As for Harden, the Houston Rockets star has also helped his team right the ship this season. Houston took a giant leap forward acquiring Harden a few years ago and the team has only improved with every passing game since his arrival. Not only has Harden been impressive during his short time with the Rockets, but he’s basically made the Rockets a title contender without Dwight Howard this season.

In all likelihood, the MVP race will come down to Harden and Curry, but LeBron definitely has a case for the award although unlikely to earn MVP honors for a fifth time this season.