He was joking, folks.
LeBron James had some fun with the pesky media Wednesday, when asked who he would vote for—aside from himself, of course—as the NBA’s most valuable player this season.
James playfully nominated teammate Kevin Love, in a clever call-back to Love infamously giving his own non-existent vote to Russell Westbrook.
LeBron James was asked who he would vote on for MVP and he said Kevin Love, with a smile.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) April 15, 2015
LeBron enjoyed a night off, as the No.2 seed Cleveland Cavaliers put the finishing touches on the regular season with a 113-108 overtime win against the visiting Washington Wizards.
Per the NEOMG:
Asked before Wednesday’s regular-season finale who he’d vote as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, James said: “Who would be my vote? Um, Kevin Love.” […] The joke here is last month Love was asked if he’d pick his teammate, James, or his college teammate Russell Westbrook as MVP, and he chose the latter. He said it the same morning he said he and James were not best friends.
James didn’t play Wednesday because, well, it was the last game before the playoffs. He seldom plays in those games. But the 13 games James missed this season — 11 due to injury — were a career high. […] His 25.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game were his second-lowest averages in both categories of his 12-year career — lowest since his rookie campaign of 2003-04. His 7.6 assists per night? The second most of his career. The 36.1 minutes he averaged were easily his fewest.
After James’ (30th) birthday, and two weeks off to recuperate from nagging back and knee injuries, he looked like his old self. He averaged about 30 points per game for nearly a month. He more forcefully embraced (head coach David) Blatt in public — with his words and in his on-court demeanor. As a result, the Cavs turned into the NBA’s best team from mid January to now, going 34-9 over their last 43 games. […] “It’s been like three different seasons for us,” James said. “We had when-I-first-came-back season. Then we started the season totally different than when I first came back, the Kevin Love trade, then we had another trade in January, like three different seasons. So, for everything that we’ve went through, as far as personnel changes and guys out and guys in, I think it’s been a pretty, pretty good regular season. I wouldn’t say great, I’m not satisfied, I’m never satisfied. But what we were able to accomplish as far as our growth as a team, I think I’m happy with that.”
