re: Official Jackwoods NBA Free Agency / trade szn primer Thread

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Who is the best player in the NBA?

1. LeBron James: 7

2. Giannis Antetokounmpo: 1

In 2019, after James suffered the first significant injury of his career and the Lakers missed the playoffs, no one picked him. Instead, Kawhi Leonard was the runaway winner in this category.

This time around, those roles are reversed. James dominated the balloting, earning seven of the eight votes of those polled, only failing to get all eight because of how the question was interpreted.

"If we're talking about the best player over the course of a season, I'm not picking LeBron," said the Eastern Conference executive who picked Antetokounmpo instead. "If we are talking about in the playoffs, it's probably LeBron, because he always is."

For just about everyone else, however, the answer was simple.

"Until you can find someone otherwise, you can't prove anyone is more reliable or consistent or important to their team winning than LeBron," a Western Conference scout said. "People may want to argue [Anthony Davis] is the best player on that team, but the burden of proof is on everyone else right now. He does it everywhere, he does it every single year."

Still, for all the praise for James, at least one voter has his potential successor for the throne picked.

"If you put a gun to my head and you have to go win a playoff series, I'd say LeBron," an Eastern Conference scout said. "But I'll tell you what: That motherf---er in Dallas is coming. ... That dude is going to win multiple MVPs."

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