Who is the best player in the NBA?
ESPN asked 10 NBA scouts and executives, who gave five votes to each Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nets star Kevin Durant. After all, Antetokounmpo just had a special run leading Milwaukee to a title. And Durant outplayed Antetokounmpo in their second-round series.
LeBron James – who loves calling himself washed – took offense to the survey result.
LeBron:
This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.
This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.
Ten NBA personnel not picking LeBron as the league’s best player is not anyone saying he’s washed. Not even close.
In two of the last three seasons – including the most recent one – LeBron limped to the finish. He’s 36 now. It’s hard to depend on him when the stand is so high: very best player in the NBA.
That said, LeBron led the Lakers to a title in the middle season. There’s a massive gulf between receiving votes as best player in the NBA (among just 10 executives and scouts, a relatively small sample) and being washed. LeBron lands far closer to the former than the latter, as the original article made clear.
The only other name even mentioned by those polled was James, though he ultimately didn’t receive any votes. It was clear all three stars were on a level unto themselves at this point.
Whatever LeBron wants to tell himself for motivation, he should.
But the rest of us don’t have to take it face value.
Not picked as NBA’s best player, LeBron James pokes at himself as ‘#SUPERWASHED’ originally appeared on NBCSports.com