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TheRobGoldberg is the featured Columnist for the Los Angeles Lakers.
AP Photo/Marcio Josenchez
The Los Angeles Lakers star is more concerned with his team's success than he is with winning the Most Valuable Player award.
He talked to reporters about what it means to be in the conversation.
"If my name continues and my name starts to be mentioned in the same breath as the best player in the game, then I'm happy about it, because it means the Lakers are winning basketball games," James said. That's what I want. That's all I care about.
The Lakers were down in the race for the title, so it was not an issue for an award winner. The team has looked better recently, winning three games in a row to improve to 20-19 on the year.
The team entered Thursday with a sixth-best record in the Western Conference, which would be good enough to get them into the play-in brackets.
Over the past nine games, James has averaged 34.3 points and 9.8 rebounds. He is currently averaging 28.6 points per game, his highest since the first season of his second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, while adding 7.4 rebound and 6.5 assists per game.
Stephen Curry has been considered the favorite to win the NBA's Most Valuable Player award through the first half of the season, but he has a lower effective field goal percentage than his teammate, and he has more points, assists and rebound than his teammate.
James has won four career awards, but he hasn't won in the last three years. He was out of the conversation during an injury-plagued 2020-21 because he finished second in voting behind Antetokounmpo.
A bounce-back season has reminded fans and voters that he is still among the best players in the NBA, although he will need the Lakers to win more games to take home a fifth Most Valuable Player.
