The only players to win the In-Season tournament MVP award: — LeBron James End of the list.
The top three players with the most No. 2 runner-up finishes in individual awards
NBASunday, 14 April 2024 at 03:00
With the regular season coming to an end, the NBA awards one of the main topics of discussions among fans. This time we decided to make a little tweak, insead of listing the most award winners, we'll pay our respects to those players who came very close to winning this accolades but came up short in the end of the race.
We will be checking out some legendary names that have reached many of these following achievements, but also, could've won many, many more. LeBron James is the first on the list, being the historic and record-breaking player that he is. Kevin Garnett and David Robinson, both NBA Champions and MVP winners, were the runners-up in many ocassions as well.
LeBron James: 6
The King was the runner-up for an individual award six times. Starting with the MVP loss back in 2005-06, LeBron almost won in 2008-09 the Defensive Player of the Year; in 2012-13 again finished second for Defensive Player of the Year; in 2013-14: lost against Kevin Durant the MVP; in 2017-18 lost against James Harden the MVP; lastly in 2019-20 he fiinished second, behind Giannis Antetokounmpo in the MVP voting.
David Robinson: 5
The Admiral David Robinson was a monster back in the 90's with the San Antonio Spurs. The two-time NBA Champion and 1995 NBA MVP came in second in five times when it comes to individual awards: 1990-91 as the Defensive Player of the Year; 1992-93 again as Defensive Player of the Year; 1993-94 one more time Defensive Player of the Year and MVP; finally in 1995-96 he lost the MVP against Michael Jordan after his return.
Kevin Garnett: 5
Tied with the Admiral, KG won it all in his career, he's an NBA Champion, an NBA MVP and a Defensive Player of the Year winner. However, KG also came short a few times as well: 1999-00 for MVP; 2000-01 for Defensive Player of the Year; 2001-02 for Defensive Player of the Year; 2002-03 for MVP; 2010-11 again finished second for Defensive Player of the Year.
Honorable mentions to Draymond Green; Hakeem Olajuwon; Jerry West and Kevin Durant, all of them finished second for 4 individual accolades, except the Logo. Jerry West was second in MVP votes in 4 different seasons.
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