The Case for Kawhi Leonard as MVP

Why team success should matter more than inflated stats

NBA.com

Kawhi Leonard has made a late push in the NBA’s MVP discussion. As the best player on one of the best teams in the league, Leonard is a dark horse candidate to take the award away from favorites James Harden and Russell Westbrook.

Leonard is having a career season, following his career season last year. That’s the theme with Leonard. He always improves from the previous season. Here’s his stat line:

PPG: 26.0 APG: 3.5 RPG: 5.9 FG%: 48.6 3P%: 37.2

The numbers are impressive, but not quite as good as the ridiculous numbers Westbrook and Harden are averaging. They’re the top two scorers and both are in the top three in assists in the league. Westbrook is averaging a triple double, and Harden’s team is third in the West due to his efforts.

The argument for Leonard isn’t in the numbers, or the fact that his team is useless without him. Leonard should be the MVP because his team is far better than any of the other candidates, and it’s all because of him.

The Rockets are having a great season thanks to Harden, but they aren’t even close to the Spurs. Oklahoma City has adjusted well to Kevin Durant’s departure, but San Antonio is on a different planet.

Spurs: 57–16

Rockets: 51–23(6.5 GB)

Thunder: 42–31(15 GB)

Leonard has the same amount of responsibilities as Harden and Westbrook. San Antonio’s offense is run through him, and their defense is anchored by him. Sure, Harden and Westbrook have terrific offensive stats, but Leonard isn’t far behind. The difference in each of their team’s success is a huge difference where Leonard has the advantage.

The Spurs, who revolve around their star player, have the league’s top defense, and the 6th best offense. Let’s compare those rankings to Houston and OKC.

Houston: 2nd offense/ 17th defense

OKC: 16th offense/ 10th defense

Leonard is also the only one of these three players to have a positive rating in both Offensive and Defensive Real Plus Minus from ESPN. In a stat that measures true impact on the floor, Leonard has the best two way rating out of each MVP candidate.

The Spurs are a well oiled machine. There’s no doubting that. But there’s a reason for that. Leonard makes all of the things they run possible thanks to his all around abilities. It’s just like Tim Duncan, and he won back to back MVP’s in his career no problem.

The gap between Leonard’s traditional stats and Harden/Westbrook is not as wide as the gap between Leonard’s impact on winning. Nothing matters more than winning, and Leonard is tops in the league when it comes to that.