Early NBA MVP Race: Luka, Wemby, and SGA's Strong Starts

John, I wanted to talk about the early NBA MVP race. And the reason I want to talk about that is because I feel like maybe I'm mistaken. This is the earliest we've had talks about an NBA MVP in recent years. Usually we don't start this conversation until like January or February. It's like, oh, this guy's leading the league in this, or he's carrying this team to this record or whatever. It's between Luka and Wemby, and I guess you could throw Shea in there because Shea has the Oklahoma City Thunder at 8-2, even though they've missed everybody. But you have- I got smoked tonight. Yeah, right. So you have this group of, this mix of players that are getting real MVP hype in early November. Again, we are not even a month into the season yet, and we're hearing, well, this guy's leading an MVP. First of all, I want to get your thoughts on that. We are way too early for MVP talk, are we not? Am I crazy to think that? I think it's laughable in a sense, but hear me out on this. You can win the MVP in the first month because if you get out ahead of everybody, you can now establish yourself. If you don't get injured, you miss a game here and there, but you don't get injured for a couple of weeks or a month or so, nothing like that. You can then say, or people who are in your corner can say, he's been good from beginning to end because no one really watches the middle. They watch the beginning, and they watch a little bit halfway past midway and the end for MVP. There's a chunk in the middle that nobody's really paying attention to. And so I think if you are Luka, it's important that you start off on fire. He has. If you're Wimby, I think it's important that you start standing closer to the basket when you're trying to score. He has. And so, Shea is going to do what Shea is going to do. With all these injuries that surround that organization right now, if he can keep that team anywhere near the top with his 30-point average, he's going to be the MVP. I like what Luka's done. I think Wimby showing people last year, we were pissed off about what happened. I'm going to show you that that will not happen again. He's on a revenge season. But I'm telling you. If Shai can get this team any one or two with a 30-point average, there really won't be anything you can say against him because, Luka, we know you can score 35, and, Wemby, we know you can get 40 points and eight blocks and 15 rebounds when you want to stand next to the basket. But, John, there's this thing that people in the NBA or voters in the NBA love to do, which is voter fatigue, right? And SGA is a two-time defending MVP. And people are saying, oh, well, it's the same as always. Like, he's doing the same thing he always does. I think it's different in this context. Much, much different in this context. People are saying, well, Luka and Wemby, they're tearing up the league. I understand that. I am not discrediting what those two guys have done. But I think we've kind of led. We've kind of warped this MVP. What is MVP? Most Valuable Player. And what does that mean? Well, most valuable player to what? To your team. Like, if you're off the team, the team's going to be significantly worse. Or when you're on the floor, they are that much better. If you take Shea off OKC, I mean, they're not even in the top eight. They're not even in the top ten, in my opinion. You saw Luka Doncic came off the floor for the Lakers, and Austin Reaves put up 43, and they beat the Pistons on the road. Like, Wemby, they have Castle, they have Fox, they have Harper, they have this unbelievable trio of guards that can still put up points. Obviously, I'm not taking, like I said, I'm not taking away anything, but aren't we kind of getting away, not just in the NBA, but across sports about MVP? It's kind of just best player. It should be the BP or whatever, you know, it's not really most valuable anymore. Here's the thing about voter fatigue. I don't buy into voter fatigue. Voter fatigue cost Russell Westbrook back-to-back MVPs. Voter fatigue cost Joker a triple crown back-to-back-to-back MVPs. That's what I mean. So I, I, I. We have seen, in the last decade, we've seen guys have seasons that no one's ever had before and not win the MVP. Russell Westbrook averaged a triple-double at back-to-back seasons. Got an MVP for the first one. Didn't get one for the second. Joker then went on and did basically the same thing three years in a row, and voter fatigue is what got him the third time? I, it... I understand that voter fatigue is a real thing because LeBron doesn't have eight MVPs. Michael Jordan don't have 10 MVPs. Like, I get that it's a real thing, but it really does a disservice to the game of the best player dominating. Can someone have a better season than him? Of course they can. Derrick Rose is one of my favorite players of all time to watch. That season he won the MVP was historic, but LeBron had a better year. And so a lot of times the storyline plays into it. And I think that's what voters hide behind when they use. They don't say it's voter fatigue, but they hide behind. This is a better story for the MVP. This this is a better narrative. We can sell this across the market. If Derrick Rose becomes the youngest MVP in NBA history. Yes, LeBron is great. Yes, LeBron. We've seen LeBron, quote unquote, do this before. One of those things. Yeah, Jokic is on his third, you know, MVP run. But we've seen that. You know, better story. Little OKC. So, you know, I'm not a fan of it. I think it waters down the game and it really hurts the conversation.