LeBron James deserves the NBA Finals MVP

Every year, in every sport, there are inevitably two kinds of MVP contenders — the best player on the best team, and the player who is most valuable to his team. Most of the time, the MVP goes to the best player on the best team as long as that player had a great season.

It all comes down to how one defines “value.”

The NBA Finals MVP race is a two-man show, we knew this going in and nothing has changed. Stephen Curry will likely win the award if the Warriors close out the Cavaliers. And LeBron James is certain to win the MVP award if he can lead Cleveland to the title after falling 3-2 in the series.

But based on what I’ve seen, and how each player has played so far, the NBA Finals MVP race is already over. And James should win the award win or lose.

James has been more impressive in this series than anyone else on the floor. He is averaging 36.6 points and 9 assists, along with 12.4 rebounds. He’s only had one game where he failed to grab 12 boards and put together two monster triple doubles — a line of 39 points, 16 boards and 12 assists in Game 2 and 40-14-11 in Game 5.

As good as Curry has been, he has not filled the state sheet anywhere near as prolifically as James. He’s averaging 26.2 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Yes, I am aware James is a forward and Curry is a guard, so the rebounding totals will skew towards James. But, if we’re measuring value, would you want someone who can get you 12 rebounds and still top 26.2 points per game?

James is by far the most dominant player on either team and while Curry has had an impressive statistical NBA Finals, he’s lacking a signature performance. Mainly because James is playing on a pace we’ve never seen before and has overshadowed him in all but one game this series, Game 4.

Unless James completely duds Game 6 and, if Cleveland wins Tuesday, Game 7, he’ll have the most impressive resume of anyone in this finals with Curry’s strong performance a very distant second. It’s no question James has been more valuable to his team than Curry. And if that’s the definition the voters choose to honor, James will win.

The problem is voters tend to give the MVP, both in the regular season and the championship round, to the most impressive player on the best or winning team. The NBA Finals MVP has only been awarded to a player on the losing team one time in the league’s history — in 1969 when Jerry West won despite the Lakers losing to the Celtics in seven games.

Go beyond basketball, and only once has the Super Bowl MVP be awarded to a player on the losing team (Dallas’ Chuck Howley in 1971) and same is true for the World Series MVP (Bobby Richardson of the New York Yankees in 1960). The NHL is a different beast, as the Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded to the MVP of the entire playoffs rather than just the Stanley Cup Finals.

So while I’d vote for James — just like I would have voted for Anthony Davis for the 2015 regular season MVP — based on his clear value to his own team, I don’t see tradition being broken this time around. The winning team will produce the MVP.

And I’ll have no problem with either player being honored, but James is in the middle of a once in a lifetime performance. If that’s the definition of “value,” he is it.

Win or lose.