J.R. Smith Says LeBron James is ‘the Real MVP’

After watching Cavs teammate LeBron James register his second triple-double of the season Monday night, J.R. Smith made the argument that James is the MVP this season, and, practically every other one he plays in.

The race for the Maurice Podoloff Trophy has seemingly come down to Stephen Curry and James Harden, but Smith says that’s hogwash.

With the possible exception of Kevin Love, Cleveland players, fans, the media and even LeBron himself consider the superstar forward the L’s most valuable player.

Per ESPN:

Shortly after the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 109-97 win over the Detroit Pistons on Monday, J.R. Smith was interviewed by the Quicken Loans Arena’s in-house emcee. He was asked for his thoughts on LeBron James’ second triple-double of the season and 39th of his career. […] “Who? The real MVP?” Smith said, his message echoing to the sellout crowd of 20,562 who were making their way to the exits. “There’s a lot of speculation about who should get the award, but we all know who the real MVP is.”

 

“In actuality, if you really wanted to, you could give it to him every year,” Smith said of James, who won the award four times in his first 11 seasons in the league. “I mean, the numbers, what he does for teams. You see one year removed from a team like Miami — and they probably won’t even make the playoffs — to a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since he left and then, all of the sudden, we’re a 52-win team. So, I don’t think you can do that with anybody else that’s in our league right now.

 

“Not to knock anything from the other two guys [Stephen Curry and James Harden]. They’re having great years, career years for both of them, but if you want to be realistic about it, you could give it to him every time.”