In the 90‘s, it was the common opinion that Michael Jordan was the best player in the league, even if he didnt win the MVP every season. So at least from 1991-1998, Jordan was the leagues best player.
But after 1998, which players would you say held the unofficial title of „the best player in the league“? What were the time spans between the respective passing the torch?
- Shaq/Duncan went toe to toe and swapped from 99-04
- KG for a brief period in 2004
- No distinct #1 from 05-08, a few could be argued
- 08-10 Kobe with LeBron 1B
- 10-15 LeBron
- 2016 Steph with LeBron still 1B
- 2017-20 LeBron
- 20-22 Giannis and Jokic
2019 Kawhi
Glaring Tim Duncan omission
Lebron was still viewed as the best player in the world in 21 until Solomon hill injury gm survey that year had him clear n1 and he was mvp favourite with embid being injured his only competitor. Also 2016 after finals no one though steoh , 2008-2010 is also Lebron the moment of his first mvp 2009 I can’t see anyone arguing otherwise unless you’re going to give Kobe credit for a better team . Magic shot 41%+ from 3 while cavs shot low 30s: actually I think non Lebron cavs barely shot 30.%, Dwight shot 70%+ from the ft line. Brons team mates shooting awful from 3 n Dwight’s hot ft shooting isn’t why Kobe was better then Bron , you can argue Kobe the mvp year but even that year was a legacy mvp by the numbers that should’ve been cp3 mvp year quite clearly .
lebron wasn’t the best in 2019. It was Kawhi, Steph, or Harden.
Kawhi imo. He average 30 ppg for the entirety of the playoffs.
I think Harden having 4 years in a row with the highest win shares of any player has to mean he was at least 1B in one of those years.
Also Steph has to be 1A or 1B in more years. The guy has been the only actual opposition to LeBron. With all the respect to Thompson, Draymond and even KD but you put all those players in other teams and they don’t sore as high. We saw that in Steph injury years and we saw that again in 2022 where he willed his team to a ring.
Conclusion, I like your list but would give Harden and Steph their well deserved flowers.
Harden led the league in win shares 4 seasons in a row and 5 of 6. Very similar to what jokic is in the midst of.
But not all the other advanced stats.
Jordan wasn’t always the best player in his seasons (think Iverson, Barkley, Magic, and lots of others) but that period belonged to him. In that same spirit I think you can argue for Shaq, maybe Duncan, Kobe, and LeBron. But other than that all those other names are just players who were great at one point. And it’s still LeBron right now even though he’s barely top 10.
Shaq, Duncan, Kobe, Bron, KD, Kawhi, Jokic
I think a combination of Shaq and Duncan were the best player up until 05-06’ then Kobe or Duncan were the best. Sometime in 2007-2009ish (depends on how you see it) LeBron became the best player and he was him until Giannis won his 2021 chip. Then Jokic won his ring and is best player in the world now.
I think this is the most accurate timeline. Duncan and the spurs won the finals after Jordan retired.
Shaq won a mvp and then 3 peated. From 99-01
Duncan won 2 mvps and a few more titles up from 02- 07.
Then Kobe won his mvp and 2/3 finals. From 08-10
Next Lebron won his mvps and made 8 straight trips to the finals. From 2010-2018
After he left the cavs, it was a toss up. Between kawhai, Durant, curry, Giannis.
And then jokic has won back to back mvps followed by a finals run.
I find this thread really interesting. I don’t view “best player in the league” as a year by year thing but more of a title that someone has until the lose it. Almost like a passing of the torch, and it last longer than a lot of these answers. Like to me, Shaq was still the best player in the world in 03-05. His stats went down because he was accommodating new teammates and the ever growing need for the ball from Kobe, but when push came to shove he was still the best in the league until after his first year in Miami. I think my list would be something like this:
Shaq from 99-05 Kobe from 06-09 Lebron fron 09ish-2018 Here it gets murky but I think Steph had the claim from 2019-22, I just think lebron had kind of lost the consensus by this time. Since last year it’s been Jokic
Guys like KG and Duncan were obviously incredible players who during different seasons had the best year of anybody in the league, but never really took over the “best player in the world” title that goes beyond “who was the best this year. I only think it’s been 4 guys this century, going on 5
Without making a big deal out of this and I get your logic but imo, the logic doesn’t hold up if Tim Duncan can do what he did in 02-03 and somehow Shaq retain the title as best player.
If that’s not losing it, I don’t know what is.
Lebron got voted the best player in the world by a wide majority by players and gms in 21.5 untill Solomon hill injury , he came off a finals mvp and was heavy favourite for mvp over jokic . Once embid went down it was Brons mvp to lose . Weird how people forget things.