Getty LeBron James during a March 8 game against the Clippers.
Los Angeles Lakers point guard, LeBron James may not be playing NBA basketball right now, but that doesn’t mean that his name isn’t still in NBA MVP conversations.
Get this: NFL Network personalities are weighing in too!
Insert Nate Burleson.
Appearing on the Scoop B Radio Podcast, Burleson says that LBJ is in fact this season’s MVP. “LeBron’s definitely the MVP,” he told me.
“And I’m just saying that other guys shouldn’t get a vote – but I’ll tell you who the dark horse MVP that people really wasn’t paying any attention to: Chris Paul. When you think about Chris Paul and that trade that went down…Let’s just keep it a buck – Let’s just send Chris Paul to OKC where his career is going to die and they’re not going to pay him his thirty-something million, like he’ll end up being the angry point guard and get shuffled around a few more teams and he has been COOKING this year! Putting the team on his back cooking!”
A 17-year NBA vet, at age 35, LeBron James is averaging 25.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and 10.6 assists per game for a Lakers team that currently sits in first place in the NBA’s Western Conference standings with a 49-14 record. “Bron has the LeBron effect,” Nate Burleson tells Scoop B Radio.
GettyMichael Jordan, Bulls
“I usually don’t describe anybody’s game like that. The only person I used the word ‘effect’ was Jordan. The Jordan Effect. Because Jordan forced everybody to play better than what they were. That was the Jordan Effect. He had that ability to challenge you, which rose your game and it made you a better version – it made Steve Kerr a more clutch shooter. It made Horace Grant one of the best power forwards. It made Bill Cartwright a good center. You know what I mean? The list goes on…it made Scottie Pippen the BEST wingman of all time. But when it comes to LeBron, the LeBron Effect is that his game allows you to be better. He puts you in position to be successful. Having an exaggerated versions of yourself. Both ways are effective. I think Kobe followed more ways of the Jordan Effect because he challenged his guys so much and they didn’t want to let him down; he was like the dad on the court.”
LeBron James has career averages of 27.1 points, 7.4 assists and 7.4 rebounds per game and is chasing a ring this season as the Lakers’ leader. “LeBron is just like the – he’s not like the father figure on the court, he’s more like your brother on the court,” says Nate Burleson.
“And you have more fun with your brother. So like, that’s why I think that he should be the MVP because he just makes everybody’s job so much easier and how many guys can give you buckets and give you assists and give you the rebounds and ALSO defend while making everybody’s job easier? You know how exhausting that is bro? It’s crazy.”