Last week, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey stated that James Harden is a better scorer than legendary Michael Jordan. It was weeks after the Rockets star lost the MVP award to Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, and now, Harden himself said what he thinks about that race.
During an interview on The Box, a Houston-area radio station, Harden spoke about his historic 2018-19 season and all the achievements, but he also reflected on the race for the MVP. The Beard believes that a media narrative hurt his chances to win the award.
To the hosts’ question whether he was mad with the outcome of the MVP voting, Harden answered:
“It’s out of my control. I think once the media, they create a narrative about somebody from the beginning of the year. I think they just take the narrative and run with it the entire year. I don’t want to get into any details, but all I can do is control what I can do. I went out there and did what I was supposed to do at a high level, you know what I’m saying? A few seasons where anybody’s ever done that before.”
These complaints about the media might be just bitterness from Harden, who did win the MVP award in the season before.
Harden is undoubtedly a better scorer than Giannis, and one of the best in history of the NBA. His 36.1 points per game last season was the highest total of any player in NBA history except for Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. However, Antetokounmpo did make a more significant impact on his squad, and the Bucks as a whole had more success than the Rockets last year. So, we cannot say that the Greek Freak won the MVP award undeservedly.
