NBA season has come down to Harden and Antetokounmpo

Darrius Barron

Sports Editor

The NBA season is nearing all-star weekend and that means the halfway marker for the season has been reached.

Now is the time when

fans begin to grasp an idea of who will win the Podoloff trophy for this season’s most valuable player will be.

Maurice Podoloff, a lawyer who served as president of the National Basketball League (NBL) and was the driving force to merge the NBL and National Basketball Association (NBA), became the first NBA commissioner.

According to HoopHall.com, the trophy awarded to players is named after the late Podoloff.

In the history of the NBA, players who received the Podoloff trophy were remembered throughout history.

Even players who win the award once are usually selected for Hall of Fame consideration.

The MVP award was first earned by St. Louis Hawks’ power forward/center, Bob Pettit in 1956.

Since Pettit set the standard of what level a player must perform to be named MVP, several players accepted the challenge, and set the bar higher.

Over the 62 years of awarding the Podoloff trophy, fans have seen some of the greatest players of all time be awarded. Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lebron James have all won the award at least four times.

Since 2005, the Podoloff trophy has primarily been awarded to guards with the exception of Shaquille O’Neal and Dirk Nowitzki— the last two bigs to win the award.

It has been a two-man race for this year’s MVP—Milwaukee Bucks’ forward, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Houston Rockets’ shooting guard, James Harden. Both have been playing at an unbelievable level, making the decision a hard one for fans.

Harden, an offensive juggernaut who’s averaging 36.2 points and 8.1 assists a game has led the Rockets to a 29-22 record heading into the all-star weekend.

The Greek Freak, Antetokounmpo has been proving to doubters that he cannot be stopped. The Bucks’ forward is averaging 26.4 points and 12.6 rebounds per game, all while leading his team to 37-13 record so close to all-star weekend.

Confidence is key in being successful, and Harden being the reigning league MVP still believes he’ll hoist the trophy again.

When asked by reporters at the Houston Chronicle about his desire to be named MVP for the second consecutive year, Harden said, “I need it. I need it for sure, and I’m going to get it.”

Justin Jordan, a sophomore political science major from Seattle, Wash., thinks Harden will win MVP, but not a championship.

“I’m going to give it to James Harden even though I do not think he will win the championship this year. I think he will win the MVP this year because he is the most valuable player for his team. Without him, his team wouldn’t be anything, and they would be at the bottom of the west,” said Jordan.

Derrick Johnson, a senior history major from Jackson, Miss., is looking forward to seeing Curry or Leonard win the award.

Johnson stated, “There’s two candidates that I’m looking forward to that might have a chance in winning the NBA MVP award. Stephen Curry can be number one because they have a super team, and they have the best dynasty in basketball right now. I also think Kawhi Leonard for the Raptors have a chance at winning MVP. My overall pick would be Curry because they have the better team.”

Unfortunately, the league MVP is not chosen until after the NBA Finals are over in June. Since this is a regular season award, only the performance over the regular 82 game season will be considered when determining the winner.