Miami Heat superstar LeBron James will win his much anticipated fourth NBA Most Valuable Player award on Sunday, league sources confirmed Friday to ESPN. James has been voted MVP for the second straight season and his fourth in the past five years.
LeBron will join the ranks of Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain as one of the leagues only players to win the award at least four times. The only remaining question is just how large of a margin the reigning MVP will reclaim his award by.
Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant and Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers are expected to be the second and third place finishers for the award. The Heat are scheduling an awards presentation Sunday, and James will also be presented the MVP trophy by NBA commissioner David Stern at AmericanAirlines Arena at the start of their second-round series next week in Miami.
The Heat, who have been idly awaiting an opponent since sweeping the Milwaukee Bucks in their first-round series, will face the winner Friday's Game 7 matchup between the Chicago Bulls and Brooklyn Nets. In anticipation of the award, James has expressed his honor to be mentioned alongside Jordan, Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar and Russell. However, James says his true focus is on the playoffs and guiding the reigning NBA Champions to yet another title.
James averaged 26.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 1.7 steals and one block in 76 games during his 10th NBA season. He shot a career-best percentages from the field (.565) and 3-point range (.406) and ranked in the top 10 in scoring, assists, steals and field-goal percentage among those who have played in at least 70 games this season.
"He's earned it," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of James after Friday's practice. "He's having an even more historic season than he's had the last two years. Most people probably didn't think he could go to a higher level after last season, yet he reinvented himself to show that he could. Our pinch-ourselves moment was when we signed him. But since we've had him, we don't take him for granted."
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