It's now been 5½ years since LeBron James last won MVP, though he's generally been regarded as the league's best player since then. To help address this discrepancy, ESPN's Rachel Nichols has proposed on The Jump a second award that isn't limited only to value during the regular season -- increasingly different from the value that players provide during the playoffs because of a greater emphasis on keeping stars fresh and healthy for the postseason.
Although it hasn't resulted in any actual hardware for James, such an award exists: the Golden Basketball, which I've given since 2014 to the best player in the previous calendar year, along the lines of global soccer's Ballon d'Or. Lo and behold, James won three times in the first four years because of his excellence in the playoffs. (Stephen Curry, in 2015, when the Golden State Warriors won their first title and started the following season undefeated, was the lone player to interrupt James' dominance.)
Does James win again for 2018? Let's run through the top players of the calendar year.
The winner
1. LeBron James
Position: F
Cavs/Lakers
2017 rank: No. 1
Résumé: MVP runner-up
Let's end the suspense: Yes, James wins again -- his fourth Golden Basketball since its creation, plus two more awarded retroactively for 2012 and 2013. Over the course of the 2018 playoffs, nobody was even close to as valuable as James, who lifted a Cleveland team with much more modest talent than it had in previous years to a fourth consecutive NBA Finals trip before it was swept by the Warriors. James' 8.1 playoff wins above replacement (WARP) offered nearly three more wins than the next-best player (Kevin Durant).
For the third time in the past decade, James' decision to change teams as a free agent has drastically swung the fortunes of two teams. The Cavaliers are headed from the Finals to one of the NBA's worst records, while the Lakers are poised to contend in the Western Conference for the first time in years after adding James. Again, it might not translate into a regular-season MVP, but he has done more than enough to receive another Golden Basketball.
The finalists
2. Kevin Durant
Position: F
Golden State Warriors
2017 rank: No. 2
Résumé: NBA Finals MVP
With the help of much stronger supporting talent, Durant got the better of James in the Finals for the second year in a row, averaging 28.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 7.5 assists en route to his second consecutive Finals MVP.
That performance overshadowed questions about Durant's isolation-heavy style, with which he struggled to score efficiently at times during the Warriors' seven-game conference finals victory over the Houston Rockets.
3. James Harden
Position: G
Houston Rockets
2017 rank: No. 4
Résumé: MVP
After a slow start, Harden has played at a higher level during the 2018-19 regular season than he did during his MVP campaign last season. With Chris Paul struggling because of age and injury, Harden has increased his already league-leading usage rate without any decline in his efficiency.
Harden did see his efficiency fall in the playoffs, however, particularly against Golden State in the conference finals, when he made only 24 percent of his 3-point attempts. That performance drops Harden to third on this list.
Other candidates
4. Stephen Curry
Position: G
Golden State Warriors
2017 rank: No. 3
Résumé: NBA champion
Curry was limited to 49 regular-season games in calendar year 2018 because of multiple injuries. When he was on the court, Curry was as great as ever, starting 2018-19 by averaging more than five 3-point makes per game and shooting at a 47 percent clip from outside.
Curry's 2018 NBA Finals were hit (two games with 30-plus points and a combined 16 3-pointers) and miss (11 points on 3-of-16 shooting in Game 3) but culminated in his third championship.
5. Anthony Davis
Position: F/C
New Orleans Pelicans
2017 rank: N/A
Résumé: All-NBA First Team
On Jan. 26, the Pelicans lost DeMarcus Cousins to a ruptured Achilles. The remainder of the season, Davis averaged 30.2 points on a .595 true shooting percentage, leading New Orleans to a playoff spot and a first-round sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Although Davis hasn't been quite as overwhelming early in 2018-19, he remains one of the league's most dominant -- and coveted -- individual forces.
6. Giannis Antetokounmpo
Position: F
Milwaukee Bucks
2017 rank: No. 7
Résumé: All-NBA Second Team
This might be the lowest that Antetokounmpo finishes in the Golden Basketball rankings for a long time.
Brief playoff appearances have limited Antetokounmpo's yearlong value, but after the arrival of Mike Budenholzer and addition of Brook Lopez, the Bucks have emerged as Eastern Conference contenders, and Antetokounmpo is the early favorite for 2018-19 MVP.
7. Damian Lillard
Position: G
Portland Trail Blazers
2017 rank: N/A
Résumé: All-NBA First Team
Lillard earned All-NBA First Team honors while finishing fourth in WARP (10.0) in the 2018 portion of 2017-18, trailing James, Harden and Davis.
So far this season, Lillard ranks third with 6.8 WARP. Unfortunately, Lillard was unable to maintain that performance in the 2018 playoffs against a New Orleans team intent on taking the ball out of his hands and making other Blazers beat the Pelicans.
8. Paul George
Position: F
Oklahoma City Thunder
2017 rank: N/A
Résumé: All-NBA Third Team
Those two players ahead of Lillard in WARP this season? Harden and George, who has played at an MVP level.
Taking a larger share of the offense from teammate Russell Westbrook, George is averaging a career-high 26.1 points per game. He is also the leader of the league's best defense, tying his career high with 2.9 steals per 100 plays.
9. Joel Embiid
Position: C
Philadelphia 76ers
2017 rank: N/A
Résumé: All-NBA Second Team
The self-proclaimed "Process" yielded big results for the 76ers during 2018. Despite missing the series' first two games due to injury, Embiid played a key role in the Sixers knocking out the Miami Heat for their first playoff series win since 2012.
Embiid has reached a new level so far this season, averaging 26.4 points and 13.2 rebounds per game while logging nearly 34 minutes a night and missing only one game (for rest).
10. Luka Doncic
Position: G/F
Real Madrid/Mavs
2017 rank: N/A
Résumé: EuroLeague MVP/EuroLeague Final Four MVP
Like the Ballon d'Or, the Golden Basketball rewards performance in all professional leagues, and nobody was better outside of the NBA in 2018 than Doncic -- the MVP of both the EuroLeague regular season and Final Four, all at the age of 19.
During his first two months in the NBA, Doncic has demonstrated that performance was no fluke, showing a flair for the dramatic and establishing himself as the heavy favorite to win Rookie of the Year.