who won the nba mvp of the league
NBA Most Valuable Player Award The National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1955–56 season to the best performing player of the regular season. The winner receives the Maurice Podoloff Trophy, which is named in honor of the first commissioner (then president)[a] of the NBA, who served from 1946 until 1963. Until the 1979–80 season, the MVP was selected by a vote of NBA players. Since the 1980–81 season, the award is decided by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada, each of whom casts a vote for first to fifth place selections. Each first-place vote is worth 10 points; each second-place vote is worth seven; each third-place vote is worth five, fourth-place is worth three and fifth-place is worth one. Starting from 2010, one ballot was cast by fans through online voting. The player with the highest point total wins the award.[2] As of June 2017[update], the current holder of the award is Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
LeBron James Many basketball analysts, coaches, fans, and current and former players consider James to be one of the greatest players of all-time, often ranking him as the best small forward and in the top five overall.[d] He has earned All-NBA honors every season since his sophomore year, All-Defensive honors every season from 2009 to 2014, and was named Rookie of the Year in his debut season.[39] With four MVP awards, he is part of a select group of players who have won the award four times, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell; James and Russell are the only two players who have won four MVP awards in a five-year span.[237] While James has never won the Defensive Player of the Year Award, he has finished second in the voting twice and lists it as one of his main goals.[66][238] James has appeared in the Finals eight times and won three championships. Some analysts have criticized him for not having a better Finals record, while others have defended him, arguing that his supporting casts were usually poor and, despite the fact that James had played well, his team was defeated by superior competition.[239][240][241]