Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has dominated the NBA for two decades, always being one of the best players in the league. However, a ridiculous stat shows that he may no longer be in the very top echelon of NBA players anymore.
Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid was named the 2022-23 MVP on Tuesday.
He won the award over Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who also received first-place votes.
Joel Embiid is the first player to win the Kia NBA MVP Award with the 76ers since Allen Iverson in the 2000-01 season.
Complete voting results ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/kko3o8tmxi
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 2, 2023
A total of 13 players received MVP votes, but LeBron James was not included in that list. It is the first time in James’s illustrious career that he has not received votes for the MVP award.
LeBron James did not receive a vote for NBA MVP this season.
This is the first time in his NBA career he didn't get a single vote for MVP. pic.twitter.com/tUosrsxCZO
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 2, 2023
This obviously speaks to LeBron’s longevity over the years, which many fans praised him for after heading about this statistic.
only took 20 years https://t.co/WLYInMTr1O
— Jmoney (@_LegendaryJ) May 2, 2023
https://twitter.com/pujariadit7/status/1653547751471476736
For the first time in LeBron James’ NBA career, he did not receive a single vote for MVP.
(via @ESPNStatsInfo) pic.twitter.com/zEGGHNUWgK
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 2, 2023
LeBron James did not receive one MVP vote for the 1st time in his career. 😳 pic.twitter.com/jVINKujMW3
— theScore (@theScore) May 3, 2023
Meanwhile, he’s in year 20, leading his team into the 2nd round of the playoffs, knocked off a 2 seed and the “MVP” is riding the bench because of another injury.
Wild. https://t.co/qfhGrmUCQK pic.twitter.com/80yulsWFzV
— Taylor Allen (@TaylorAllen_55) May 2, 2023
He's about to play like a man possessed tonight… https://t.co/ZydKYbaRXY
— Matt Thomas (@WATmovies_Matt) May 2, 2023
While individual accolades are always great, James has always been more concerned about team success which the Lakers are very much still in the running for.
Los Angeles was able to take care of the Memphis Grizzlies in its opening-round series. They are set to start their second-round matchup against the Golden State Warriors, who defeated the Sacramento Kings in their first-round matchup.
LeBron has famously had plenty of battles against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals before when he was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Golden State now stands between him and a Western Conference Finals appearance in his 20th NBA season.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.