This Will go back for me since 1955. ABA players are included in this, and both regular season and Postseason play are ed for:
1955: Dolph Schayes
1956: Bob Pettit
1957: Bob Pettit
1958: Bill Russell
1959: Bill Russell
1960: Bill Russell
1961: Bill Russell
1962: Bill Russell
1963: Bill Russell
1964: Wilt Chamberlain
1965: Bill Russell
1966: Wilt Chamberlain
1967: Wilt Chamberlain
1968: Wilt Chamberlain
1969: Willis Reed
1970: Jerry West
1971: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1972: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1973: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1974: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1975: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1976: Julius Erving
1977: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1978: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1979: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1980: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1981: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1982: Julius Erving
1983: Moses Malone
1984: Larry Bird
1985: Larry Bird
1986: Larry Bird
1987: Magic Johnson
1988: Michael Jordan
1989: Michael Jordan
1990: Michael Jordan
1991: Michael Jordan
1992: Michael Jordan
1993: Michael Jordan
1994: Hakeem Olajuwon
1995: Hakeem Olajuwon
1996: Michael Jordan
1997: Michael Jordan
1998: Michael Jordan
1999: Tim Duncan
2000: Shaquille O'Neal
2001: Shaquille O'Neal
2002: Tim Duncan
2003: Tim Duncan
2004: Kevin Garnett
2005: Steve Nash
2006: Dirk Nowitzki
2007: Kobe Bryant
2008: Kobe Bryant
2009: LeBron James
2010: LeBron James
2011: LeBron James
2012: LeBron James
2013: LeBron James
2014: LeBron James
2015: Stephen Curry
2016: Stephen Curry
2017: Kevin Durant
2018: LeBron James
2019: Kawhi Leonard
2020: Giannis Antetokounmpo
2021: Giannis Antetokounmpo
2022: Giannis Antetokounmpo
2023: Nikola Jokic
2024: Nikola Jokic
List:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 10x
Michael Jordan 9x
Bill Russell 7x
LeBron James 7x
Wilt Chamberlain 4x
Larry Bird 3x
Tim Duncan 3x
Giannis Antetokounmpo 3x
Bob Pettit 2x
Julius Erving 2x
Hakeem Olajuwon 2x
Shaquille O'Neal 2x
Kobe Bryant 2x
Stephen Curry 2x
Nikola Jokic 2x
Dolph Schayes 1x
Willis Reed 1x
Jerry West 1x
Moses Malone 1x
Magic Johnson 1x
Kevin Garnett 1x
Steve Nash 1x
Dirk Nowitzki 1x
Kevin Durant 1x
Kawhi Leonard 1x
Comments (17)
Really good list Brandon. My only minor changes would be:
Russell over Wilt in 64
Duncan over Nash in 05
Kobe over Dirk in 06
I understand them. For me:
-64 is to me Wilt's overall peak and his balance of scoring, ing, and defense plus carrying that mid squad to the finals does it for me
-05 is Because Duncan's offense wasn't as elite as others in the regular season or playoffs and Nash had an unbelievable impact to his team that year.
-For 06, it's tough but Dirk's Offense was ridiculous plus he was elite throughout the playoffs until the final fee games of the Finals
I might say West in ‘66 and ‘69, Bron or Steph in ‘17, and Steph for ‘19, maybe even ‘21 but that’s more debatable for sure.
I can see the case for all of those except 66 West, Wilt was on a different level
Kevin Duncan :smiling_imp: 🥵
Duncan > Dirk in 2007
Nash > both sadly
Tim Duncan was the best player in 2005 and 2007.