Back in 2013, Lebron James came just one vote shy of being the first player in NBA history to be the unanimous MVP. At the time he really wasn’t sweating it because at the end of the day, being named the MVP was such an honor, that who cares how the votes broke down. Well apparently Lebron cared very much, which was something he let on yesterday while discussing Steph winning the award this year.
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Steph Curry became the first player to unanimously be voted the MVP, with Kawhi Leonard and Lebron finishing second and third respectively. Back in 2013, Bron really should have been the first player to receive such an honor, but literally one voter picked Carmelo Anthony instead. Back then, Bron brushed it off as he accepted the trophy.
“It’s probably a writer out of New York that didn’t give me the vote,” James said during Sunday’s award ceremony at AmericanAirlines Arena. “I know the history between the Heat and the Knicks. So I get it.”
“I tried harder to win Defensive Player of the Year than I did MVP,” James said. “That’s my goal. Coach (Erik Spoelstra) had me guarding every position. We’ll try again next year.”
That voter was actually Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. Fast forward to now and Lebron admits on the inside he wasn’t being so cool about it while speaking with Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com
“I was heated,” James said when I asked him. “But I knew all along [I wasn’t getting a unanimous vote]. I just knew it.”
“It just pushed me harder,” James said. “That’s all. It motivated me further.”
The rest is pretty much history. James went on to capture his first NBA title and first NBA Finals MVP a few weeks later. When James was first informed about the voting snub, he assumed a New York writer had something to do with it.
“I got the New York part right. It was ‘Melo, my guy,” James said. “I didn’t get the writer right in Boston.”
