LeBron James Takes Shot at Defensive Player of the Year Voters

LeBron James has taken a shot at Defensive Player of the Year voters recently. The Los Angeles Lakers are currently in the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets. They are definitely the more talented team on the roster. But talent is not everything. They are fighting a team that is well coached and has nothing to lose.

The Lakers came out strong in Game 1, winning with relative ease. This is a lot different than their past game 1s in which they lost against the Houston Rockets and Portland Trailblazers. This time, they were ready for a battle. The led the game for the entirety of the 48 minutes. They never let the Nuggets into the game.

But the win was not the only thing on LeBron’s mind after the game. He was not happy about being snubbed in the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year voting.

LeBron James Takes Shot at Defensive Player of the Year Voters

“I had a chance to be defensive player of the year and also MVP in the same season. In that year Marc Gasol was rewarded defensive player of the year, but he made 2nd team all-defense.”

“It pissed me off,” James said after the game “That’s my true answer. It pissed me off because out of 101 votes I got 16 first-place votes. That’s what pissed me off more than anything. I’m not saying that the winner wasn’t deserving of the MVP, but that pissed me off. I finished second a lot in my career, either from a championship, and now four times as the MVP. Like I said, I never came into the league saying ‘I’m gonna be MVP’ or ‘I’m gonna be champion,’ I’ve always said I just want to get better every single day and those things will take care of themselves. Some things are just out of my hands, some things you can’t control, but it pissed me off.”

LeBron James Takes Shot at Defensive Player of the Year Voters

“The voting scale is a little weird to me sometimes,” James said. “Take 2012, just stick with me here, 2012-13, I had a chance to be Defensive Player of the Year and MVP in the same season. In that season Marc Gasol was awarded Defensive Player of the Year, but he made Second-Team All-Defense. So that doesn’t make sense. It’s like being MVP of the league, but you make Second-Team All-NBA. That’s when I really started to look at things kind of differently, like, how does that make any sense?

“It’s like being Rookie of the Year and then being second-team All-Rookie. And then I looked at the Most Improved this year, and rightfully so, Brandon Ingram was amazing and I thought he should’ve won it, but did you see the votes Devonte’ Graham got? He averaged four points last year compared to 17.5. If that’s not improving, what is? It’s just a weird thing sometimes that, I don’t know how much we are really watching the game of basketball, or are we just in the narration mode? The narrative.”

What do you think about what he said?