Which NBA Stars Would Benefit the Most from an MVP?

With the NBA season fastly approaching, fantasy experts, basketball odds makers, and fans alike are all predicting who is most likely to win the NBA MVP this season. Maybe Nikola Jokic will secure his fourth MVP. Maybe Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can go back-to-back. Or maybe Luka Doncic will finally capture the trophy many of us feel he should already have, but forget this topic. Forget who is going to win the MVP. Instead, let’s talk about who would gain the most from an MVP.

Would Jokic’s legacy really be affected by a fourth MVP? Probably not. Would SGA’s legacy be affected by another MVP? Probably not. Would even Luka, who has yet to win an MVP, be affected by an MVP season? Probably not as well as many already regard him as a top-five player with or without the trophy to back it up. So here are the five players whose legacies would be most affected by an MVP season.

5. Anthony Davis

One of the most skilled big men of all time, it may be a surprise to see Anthony Davis, an NBA Champion and one of the best players of the 2010s decade, appear on this list, and yet the Luka Doncic trade makes this a topic. After the trading away of Luka, arguably the heart and soul of the Dallas sports community, the city itself was torn. Memorials were held, tears were shed, and a sense of loss filled the entire region. The drafting of Cooper Flagg definitely helps to alleviate some of the pain, but the pain is still there. An MVP season for Anthony Davis could fill that gap. While Davis could never replace Luka, an MVP season would bolster the Dallas fanbase and give them something to root for right now, solidifying them as championship contenders with a bright future still on the horizon. For Davis himself, an MVP is the only thing he doesn’t have yet in his NBA career, making the milestone a potential book-closing moment.

4. Jaylen Brown

With Jayson Tatum being out likely all of next year, many fans, including those in Boston, may be quick to cast this season aside and prepare for the future, but that may be a little too premature. Even without Jayson Tatum, the Celtics still have arguably the deepest roster in the league, with multiple players being capable of scoring 20 a night, and at the top of that list is Jaylen Brown. With five straight seasons of averaging at least 22 points a game and a Finals MVP to his name, it’s surprising that Jaylen Brown doesn’t get more recognition in the NBA community, but an MVP could change that. Long believed to be the Robin to Tatum’s Batman, Jaylen Brown has an excellent opportunity to truly show how great a player he is. With Tatum gone, an increase in points, assists, rebounds, etc should be expected of Jaylen, but if the Celtics can stay afloat, and perhaps even remain championship contenders behind Jaylen Brown’s production and a stacked roster, he may step out of Tatum’s shadow and earn the respect he deserves.

3. Anthony Edwards

It seems every year we, as fans, expect great things out of Anthony Edwards. From him becoming the face of the league to him becoming the next Michael Jordan, there always seems to be a burden on his shoulders, and yet none of these things happen year after year. We all see his potential, but somehow Ant-Man just doesn’t get the job done in the end. That’s why an MVP would be so big for his young career. Not only would it show us that our assumptions were correct, but it would show Anthony Edwards what he could be: the best player in the world. While Ant-Man grabs 25 points a night and has gotten his team to back-to-back Western Conference Finals appearances, he also tends to go cold once in a while, thus keeping his team from becoming the team it could be. An MVP season would mean Edwards has overcome those demons and ascended into true NBA stardom, and the league would only be able to watch.

2. Jalen Brunson

While those of us watching Jalen Brunson understand just what the point guard has done for the city of New York, the NBA record books might not. In one of the greatest trades ever, the Knicks landed young Brunson from Dallas, where he instantly became a star, effectively resurrecting the Knicks from no man’s land, but years from now, will the younger generation remember these Knicks days without concrete proof? Besides just an elevation in stats, Jalen Brunson hasn’t left much for history writers and young fans to digits years from now, but an MVP lasts forever. A MVP performance would solidify in the record books Brunson’s impact not just for New York, but for the NBA as a whole. Just as Derrick Rose has become synonymous with resurrecting the Bulls thanks to his historic MVP year, the same could be done for Brunson. Now his impact wouldn’t just be remembered by fans watching currently, but it would be multi-generational, his name being stamped forever in the NBA pantheon, and in New York’s as well.

1. Victor Wembanyama

Often considered the best prospect since LeBron James, and perhaps the best prospect ever, Victor Wembanyama has been nothing short of amazing in his first two seasons. Averaging 21 points and 10.6 rebounds in his rookie season, Wemby increased nearly every stat total in his sophomore year. Described as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with a jump shot, the potential from this 21-year-old is astronomical, but an MVP next season would potentially hint at the dawn of a new era. If Wembanyama were to actually win the MVP next year, sure, that would solidify him as a top player in the league, and sure, it would probably mean that the Spurs would become relevant for the first time in years, but it would also set up Wemby to quite possibly enter the goat race. 

Every year the NBA produces star players, and every year the NBA crowns an MVP, but typically every generation has only one player that rises above the rest, thus entering themselves into the “Goat” debate. This generation had LeBron, the previous Michael Jordan, and before him, Bill Russell. If Victor Wembanyama were to earn an MVP in just his third season, thus becoming probably one of the top five players in the world at only 21 years old, it may just solidify everything we thought he could be when he entered the NBA Draft. He wouldn’t just be a star; he wouldn’t just be an MVP-caliber player; he would be the closest thing to a young LeBron, and potentially the next player who could match his career.