LeBron James Left Out Of NBA MVP Race As Finalists Announced

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

The NBA playoffs have come down to the final four teams. The defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers will try to hold off Isaiah Thomas’ Boston Celtics while Kevin Durant and company attempt to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals while facing the San Antonio Spurs.

With both the Cavaliers and Warriors potentially on their way to another showdown in the NBA Finals, the three finalists for the NBA MVP award were announced on Friday night ahead of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

LeBron, however, was not one of them, via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisk:

The NBA Most Valuable Player award will come down to Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard.

Although LeBron had another tremendous season and is on the cusp of advancing to the Finals once again, the three-time NBA champion was not included in the MVP race.

LeBron James will not be in the mix.

James was left out of the running Friday night when the NBA announced three finalists for each of its six major awards. It’s the first time since 2008 that he’s finished outside the top three.

There’s no question that James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Kawhi Leonard are more than worthy of the regular-season award. All three players had incredible seasons and went through transition on their respective teams with Durant leaving Oklahoma City, Tim Duncan retiring, and Dwight Howard leaving Houston with a new head coach in Mike D’Antoni.

Although worthy, LeBron remains the best player in the league without question and not making the finalist list for NBA MVP is unusual and questionable.