Rachel Nichols Still here with Matt Barnes and welcome in to the host of the Hoop Collective podcast New York Times bestseller live from the covert Domo.

Yes, it's Brian Wynne.

Horst.

Guys, we've got some good games on ESPN tonight, so let's get you ready for those with a new edition of Jump ball.

First up, if we go inside the Sixers Lakers face off who on those teams is more likely to win?

M V P LeBron James or Joel Embiid?

And Beat, of course, never won the award.

LeBron four time winner.

The Sixers have the best record in the East so far, and, according to Caesar's William Hill, James has now moved into having the second best odds to win while Embiid is in six.

So, Brian, who you got of those two were just staying within this game right now.

Rachel, let's go back to a conversation LeBron had with you on national television in Orlando.

Or, I believe he said, Give me my damn respect to a zone M v.

P.

Voter.

I have to say that I don't regret my vote for you honest last year because Yanis had one of the greatest all seasons of all time in the Bucks were amazing.

But watching LeBron in the bubble, it reinforced the distance between him and everybody else.

And with this season, the way it is, where it's scattered, where there's a lot of guys could be played different levels of games and because of LeBron, he's worth something more than four MVPs.

I don't know if it should be five.

I don't know.

It should be seven.

I think the narrative which, as we know it's so important in the M V P race.

I think the narrative is on the bronze side, and I think if he keeps playing this way, it's gonna be very compelling for people like me who have not voted for him in recent years for various reasons, even if they were good.

Even though Joel Embiid is having a spectacular year.

Rachel, I need to know now that I'm part of the media, how do I get my vote?

E I'm taking with Tim.

Frank E need to get in here.

I'm taking LeBron and as Brian alluded to, he should have at least 567 maybe eight, and you could say the same thing about Kobe back in there.

He should add more.

M V.

P is.

I think the league gets caught up sometimes in getting what's new.

What's fresh, Obviously honest being M.

V P, you know, brings a different attention from from overseas, but LeBron has been the best player for a long time.

He should definitely have more under his belt, but this year I just love that he's it.

Seems like he's so at peace with his game and his team understands what they have to do.

Lead the league in defensive efficiency.

Understand that this is a marathon, not a sprint.

So not only are they gonna be, you know, is that there titled to lose.

I also think it's LeBron's M v p to lose as well, because he's definitely to me in the front seat and she should win it this year.

Well, I would argue that it's not a matter of voters getting caught up with what's new or fresh.

It's about the criteria for the award, and poor Brian has had to hear me say this for five years now.

But you know, Matt E have a new audience with you, so I'm just gonna go into it just a little bit again.

The direction is who has had the best regular season and LeBron James at times.

And look.

Last year, as Brian pointed out, Yanis had a historic regular season, and that is what the award has been for.

It has not been for who's the best player in the n b A.

And the league has played into this by not modernizing and updating its awards the way, frankly, every other major pro US sports league has has they have updated their wards, They have added scoring awards.

Or they have added awards that recognized the statistical best season, being separate from who is the best player.

And so that is why we have ended up with LeBron James not winning more MVPs before him.

Kobe Bryant not winning more MVPs, Frankly, Michael Jordan not winning Mawr MVPs, And I think there has been a bit of a turn among fans and even among some writers and Brian, I think you're alluding to this a little bit off, just saying okay, maybe we're just going to start awarding this for who we all know who the best player in the n.

B.

A is in any given year, and right now you could make an argument for LeBron.

People are making an argument for Kevin Durant resurging.

That is different from who has the best statistical season this year.

And it will be interesting to me to see how voters vote at the end of this year because, as you point out, Matt, that disparity between who's the best player in the MBA versus who had the best stats, It seems like in some ways it's only grown since we have more stats.

It's tough for me, you know, as a former player, and this is all due respect to Janos because he does have great regular seasons.

But if you can't go to the M V P in the playoffs, when it really counts, when the world is watching when everything is on the line, how could you consistently continue to win?

MVP LeBron is someone you could go to Katya, someone you can go to Lucas, someone you could go to.

So I'm not knocking Yanis because his regular seasons have been off the charts.

But as a player and guys and how we talk in the locker room.

If you can't goto a M V P down the stretch of the playoff game, how is the M V.

P?

Yep, absolutely.

And again.

That's with the way the league has set up voting.

Voting is done at the end of the regular season, so you can't even make that judgment or have that conversation when you're doing an M V P vote because it's supposed to be for Onley the six months that preceded it.

Nothing more, nothing less outside of that and again, I wonder if that is going to change it.

The league is gonna make a change or voters were just gonna start changing it for them.

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