Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers is one of the most beloved players in the NBA and I think most fans would be really happy for him if he won the MVP award, including myself.
We love you @Dame_Lillard ❤️ https://t.co/dSZT3unddA
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) March 3, 2021
He is one of the most clutch players in the league and is very generous off of the court, but the hard truth is that that moment will never materialize.
He will be 31 years old during next season and he will not win this year.
It is not that he can not win in his early 30’s but that we have probably seen his ceiling, which is very high but not quite MVP caliber, and with all the young talent that flows into the league I just do not see a scenario where he wins the coveted MVP trophy.
Lack of Team Success
The MVP award is not nearly as much of an individual award as people make it out to be.
Nearly every single year, the winner of the MVP award plays for a top-two seed; the Portland Trail Blazers are just not that caliber of team right now and they would need to add a huge piece to control the paint on both sides of the floor.
The Western Conference has been the better conference for the entire 21st century and it appears that it will stay that way for the foreseeable future.
It would be very surprising for the Trail Blazers to have a better regular-season record than teams like the Jazz, Clippers, Lakers, Mavericks, Suns, and Nuggets.
On top of those bonafide teams, the Pelicans and Thunder have very bright futures as well as the Warriors who may have a few runs left in the tank if Klay can come back healthy.
Rising Stars
There are a plethora of young and veteran superstars in the league right now.
Of course, guys like Lebron James and James Harden are still dominant, but then there are guys like Luka Doncic, Devin Booker, and Jayson Tatum who are just starting to hit their primes.
By the time the current generation of superstars is done winning MVP’s, the younger generation will be hot on their heels which will leave Lillard no time to win one.
Even Joel Embiid seems to have taken another leap forward this year which I did not think was even possible.
Even teams that are way under the radar right now like the Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans have budding superstars in Ja Morant and Zion Williamson respectively.
The league is just too star-studded at the moment.
Dame Time
DAME TIME CAME UP CLUTCH ⌚️ pic.twitter.com/ZmvryoQbCT
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 4, 2021
After the all-star break, Lillard will oftentimes look like the best player in the league.
It ends up usually being too little too late for him to get into the MVP conversation, but it does beg the question: what if he keep that pace up for the whole season.
If he can get off to a hot start in one of the next three years then maybe, just maybe, he has a chance at winning MVP.
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