MVP voting in the NBA has become a masterclass in…
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MVP voting in the NBA has become a masterclass in groupthink: It has now been twenty years since the second place finisher even got half of the first place votes of the MVP winner
I didn’t go very far back, but from 97-2007 the second place finisher got half as many votes or more six times. In some years, like 05, 03, 02, 99 and 97 the voting was extremely close.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards\_2026.html#all\_mvp https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_2026.html#all_mvp
But over time, something substantial changed. If you go through the list, it’s now been since 2007 that the second place finisher got even half half as many votes. In an average year, the winner gets close to ten times as many first place votes as the second place finisher, despite multiple candidates having compelling arguments in most years.
We don’t see this in other American sports like the MLB or NFL at all - there are often close races. We don’t even see this to the same extent with other NBA awards.
But now, even when “The MVP race” is a major story, the media seemingly conclusively picks one narrative every single season. How, and why exactly did this happen?
#sport
I didn’t go very far back, but from 97-2007 the second place finisher got half as many votes or more six times. In some years, like 05, 03, 02, 99 and 97 the voting was extremely close.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards\_2026.html#all\_mvp https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_2026.html#all_mvp
But over time, something substantial changed. If you go through the list, it’s now been since 2007 that the second place finisher got even half half as many votes. In an average year, the winner gets close to ten times as many first place votes as the second place finisher, despite multiple candidates having compelling arguments in most years.
We don’t see this in other American sports like the MLB or NFL at all - there are often close races. We don’t even see this to the same extent with other NBA awards.
But now, even when “The MVP race” is a major story, the media seemingly conclusively picks one narrative every single season. How, and why exactly did this happen?
#sport
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