Now, for some historical facts. The award was first given out in 1956 when it was awarded to Bob Pettit of the St. Louis Hawks. Initially, MVP awards were voted for by fellow players in the league but from 1979-80 onwards the voters became a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters from the United States and Canada.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has the most number of MVP awards in league history with six. Not far behind with five MVP’s are a couple of players - Michael Jordan and Bill Russell. And tied for four career MVP’s are two players - LeBron James and Wilt Chamberlain.
Before we got to the rankings, it’s important to understand the factors that have determined the rankings (in no specific order):
Only the MVP season. This is not ranking the careers of the players that have been named MVP. The player’s numbers in comparison to MVP seasons of other players in league history is the biggest factor. Again, this is ranking the regular season MVP numbers, so the player’s or team’s postseason performance that year does not play a factor
Team record. This shows the impact of the player’s great season on the team’s performance that year.
A combination of multiple factors such as roster help, the MVP’s age and other such circumstances under which the player was named MVP are also key factors
So without any further ado, let’s get right to the rankings:
#10 Michael Jordan: 1995-96
Season Averages: 30.4 points (led the league), 6.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.2 steals, 49.5% shooting
You won’t see many All-Time NBA lists without the name Michael Jordan being thrown around, most probably at the top of the list. This time around, he tip-off the list at No. 10.
Everything went right for Jordan this season. He won the league MVP, was named the All-Star Game MVP, his team the Chicago Bulls won a then-record 72 games in the regular season and he went on to win his fourth championship, in the process also receiving his fourth Finals MVP Award.
And we haven’t even mentioned the fact that this was his first full season, coming off of a two-year hiatus playing minor-league baseball. Yet, he dominated the league just like he had before he left it.
Other than leading the league in points per game and total points, he also led the league in Win-Shares (20.4, 7th all-time among MVP seasons), Player Efficiency Rating (PER) and Usage percentage. His Win Share per 48 minutes of .317 also ranks sixth all-time among other MVP’s.
A huge reason why this MVP season of Jordan’s ranks at 10 is because he had a lot of support on his team in Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and a more-than-capable bench. Not to mention the fact that the talent level of the teams in the league had diluted with more than a couple expansion teams.
#9 Oscar Robertson: 1963-64
Season Averages: 31.4 points, 11.0 assists (led the league), 9.9 rebounds, 48.3% shooting and 85.3 FT% (led the league)
Oscar Robertson officially recorded a triple-double average for a season only in his second year (1961-62) but the other four years of his first five campaigns in the league too, he came really close to doing the same.
Any of the first five seasons he could have averaged a triple-double and won the MVP award but this was by far the year he deserved it the most. The team’s 55 wins (25 losses), were the most they had won since Robertson debuted. They eventually fell short against the Boston Celtics’ dynasty of the 1960’s in the East Division Finals after defeating Wilt Chamberlain and the Philadelphia 76ers in the East Semis.
The loss in the Division Finals takes nothing away from Robertson’s performance that season. Other than his league-leading numbers in assists and free-throw percentage, he finished second in scoring and ninth in field goal percentage.
#8 Russell Westbrook: 2016-17
Season Averages: 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, 10.4 assists
Russell Westbrook became the second player in NBA history to average a triple-double over the course of a regular season, the first being Robertson in the 1961-62 season. In the process of averaging a triple-double, he also broke the record for most triple-doubles in a single season (42), also previously held by Robertson in the same 1961-62 season.
An incredible part of the season was that, unlike the recent culture of resting players for the postseason, Westbrook played in 81 of the 82 games. Now, this is real, that the team needed him to play all of those games but it’s noteworthy how valuable his triple-doubles were for the team. In the 42 instances that he recorded a triple-double, the Thunder won 78.5% of their games (33-9).
Not just that, he led the league in PER (30.63) and single-handedly carried the Oklahoma City Thunder to the 2017 Playoffs as the sixth seed with 48 wins. He’s the only MVP since the 1982-83 to not win at least 50 games in the regular season.
While the obvious positive about this season is the triple-double feat. It ranks so low on the list as Westbrook wasn’t exactly efficient, nobody might be able to be more efficient given the volume of scoring the team needed from him. That combined with the fact that the team’s record (48 wins) wasn’t as great as the other seasons on this list.
#7 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 1970-71
Season Averages: 31.7 points (led the league), 16.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 57.7% shooting
Take a look at the season averages once again.
Those were recorded by a 23-year old player for the Milwaukee Bucks in just the second season of his career. Steals and blocks weren’t even calculated at that point. Can you imagine how many blocks he would have averaged considering the fact that he averaged 2.6 blocks over 16 years?
It’s insane to think that, in just his second season, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recorded the second-best win-shares per 48 minutes in NBA history as compared to every other MVP season ever.
He also led the league in PER (29.0), finished fourth in rebounds per game and carried the team to the best record in the league. As spectacular as his numbers and achievements were for this season, he did have a veteran Robertson for a teammate. What makes his season sweeter is that the Bucks went on to win the Championship, although it isn’t considered as a factor in these rankings.
This MVP award was the first of many more to come.
#6 Wilt Chamberlain:1959-60
Season Averages: 37.6 points (led the league), 27.0 rebounds (led the league), 2.3 assists, 46.1% shooting in 46.4 minutes (led the league)
As mentioned earlier, Wilt Chamberlain has won the MVP award four times in his career. Each one of those seasons, he’s put up godly numbers but his season averages for a rookie are just unheard of, let alone the fact that he’s the only rookie in NBA history to ever be named the league MVP.
Also read: Top 10 Regular season scorers in NBA History
Apart from his league-leading numbers in points and rebounds, he also led the league in minutes per game, PER (28.0) and finished second in free-throws made, tremendous for a 7-1 center. On his debut, he put up video game type numbers - 43 points, 28 rebounds, 63.0% shooting, 48 minutes played and a 9-point win.
Being named MVP in his rookie season is a huge reason why this MVP year of Chamberlain’s is so high. Otherwise, there is a clear breakdown and reasoning to his otherworldly numbers - the frantic pace of the game in the 1960’s.
The lowest points per game team average in the 60’s was 107.3, while the highest points per game average for a team in the 2013-14 season was 107.9. The pace of the game allowed for more points and more rebounds for players to record.
#5 LeBron James: 2008-09
Season Averages: 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 48.9% shooting
Another amazing MVP year from another young player.
James wasn’t as young as Chamberlain or Kareem but he was still just 24 years old and he took the league by storm. With a sub-par supporting cast, James unleashed himself, leading the league in PER, ranked second in scoring, and finished in the top 10 in assists and rebounds. His win-shares are fourth-best since the NBA-ABA merger and third-best in terms of win-shares per 48 minutes since the merger.
If all of those numbers weren’t enough, he carried the Cleveland Cavaliers to a league-best 66 wins. He also led the team in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks - at that point, it was only the fourth time a player did so in league history.
This was the first of four MVP’s (right now) in James’ career. He really began to evolve into a team-carrying and league dominating superstar in this season.
#4 Shaquille O’Neal: 1999-2000
Season Averages: 29.7 points, 13.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 3.0 blocks, 57.4% shooting
One of the most dominating MVP seasons in league history.
The numbers speak for themselves. If the averages weren’t enough, the MVP voting also highlighted his dominance - he was just one vote shy of winning the award unanimously.
O’Neal led the NBA in scoring, field goals, field-goal percentage and finished second in total rebounds. During the early 2000’s, with his mobility and agility, O’Neal was unstoppable whether it was in the post, or in transition. Before this season rolled around, O’Neal had already established himself as a dominant offensive player but this season, he really showcased his defensive prowess.
His 3.0 blocks average were third in the league and it also earned him a spot in the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team. His play inspired the Los Angeles Lakers to a successful 67-win season, which eventually turned into the franchise’s first of three straight championship years.
As dominant as he was, Shaq still had a decent supporting cast to assist him in putting up these stellar averages (led by Kobe Bryant) and that hurts his case for this list.This (#4) is the furthest an MVP, that won a championship in the same year, has gotten on this list.
#3 Stephen Curry: 2015-16
Season Averages: 30.1 points (led the league), 5.4 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 2.1 steals (led the league), 50.4% shooting, 45.4% 3-point shooting and 90.8% FT shooting (led the league)
The only unanimous MVP in league history!
Offensively, this is arguably the greatest season ever by any player. Something that can’t be seen in his averages is his record-breaking 402 three-pointers for the season. Just to put that in perspective, he owns four of the top five slots (for most 3-pointers in a single season) with the second being last season when he knocked down 324 3’s.
He recorded all of that volume shooting and scoring with inhuman efficiency, joining the 50-45-90 club, which already had Steve Nash and Steve Kerr as the only three players to shoot those percentages over an entire season.
And we haven’t mentioned the 73 wins yet, the single-season wins record that the Golden State Warriors registered under his leadership. As a leader, he led by example, becoming the only player in league history to average more than 30 points for a season while playing less than 35 minutes per game.
The team’s record-breaking achievement combined with Curry’s once-in-a-lifetime season propels him to #3 on this list.
#2 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - 1971-72
Season Averages: 34.8 points (led the league), 16.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 57.4% shooting
If you though the previous MVP season of Kareem’s (1970-71), the center did one better the next year. There’s a clear jump in all of the major stat categories - points, rebounds, and assists from the previous season. He not only the league in points per game, he also was at the front in categories like PER, offensive win shares and win shares per 48 minutes.
And it’s the final stat that helps Kareem rank so high on this list is his win shares per 48 minutes: an NBA record - .340.
And note, he was putting up such insane numbers while still going up against some healthy Hall of Fame competition in Wilt Chamberlain, Wes Unseld, Nate Thurmond and Elvin Hayes.
The 1971-72 year was when Kareen registered a career-high in points per game for a season. Scoring seemed quite simple for him courtesy of his unstoppable move - the skyhook. On the back of that and some craft moves in the post, he went on to become the league’s all-time scoring leader (38,387).
#1 Michael Jordan: 1987-88
Season Averages: 35.0 points (led the league), 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 3.2 steals (led the league), 53.5% shooting
Michael Jordan’s 1987-88 season, only the fourth of his career, is arguably the greatest season by any player in NBA history and this was just offensively. As you can he led the league in steals and recorded 1.6 blocks per game but what was more remarkable was that he was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. He is one of only two players (other being Hakeem Olajuwon) to win the NBA MVP and the DPOY Award in the same season.
His PER (31.71), for this season, is the best ever since the league’s merger with the ABA. He led the league in as many as 18 categories. He almost tripled the points scored by the second-leading points scorer on his team and his points average was almost 5 points more than the second-best in the league.
Now, swallow this, with such a team he won 50 wins. Yes, 50 WINS!
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