Transcription
Can we agree that since LeBron took the Cavs to the finals in '07, he's been the best player in basketball?
Not even close. That's a 9-year run. So, when were Kobe and Duncan the best players in the league?
Kobe was ne- You know, you could make an argument Kobe was never the best player in the league. And we can disregard the fact that Kobe was the best player in the world for maybe 1 year, and we can disregard
Time out. Time out. Let me Let me explain something. In 2006, when Steve Nash won the back-to-back MVP, Kobe should have won the MVP. Nick, I was on the team with Steve Nash.
Mhm.
When he won back-to-back.
Got it.
The best player in the league was Kobe Bryant. We lost to Phoenix that year.
Oh, they lost in the first round. Okay.
All
I was on the team.
So,
with Bosh.
So, the team with the best player in the world didn't get out of the first round. Is that's what you're telling me?
Okay, well, that's an anomaly in NBA history. The idea that in this sport, you have the best player in the world I and you can't get out of the first round.
So, when it comes to Kobe Bryant being the best player in the NBA, Nick Wright calls it an incredible anomaly for the league's best player to fail to make it past the first round of the playoffs. In his eyes, that's exactly what disqualifies Kobe from being considered the best player of those years. His idea that the best player in the league must always make it past the first round certainly sounds nice and lofty. But, did the best player in the league really always make it past the first round?
First, let's make one thing clear. We're talking about the best player, not the MVP.
But, there should be I say it's unofficial, but an official designation at the end of every year, who's the best basketball player? Who is the best basketball player alive? You can call it a title belt. That is a different award than who was the most outstanding player this year.
That distinction is actually crucial, because historically, with very few exceptions, the MVP award goes to the best player on one of the best teams. That team almost always has home court advantage in the first round and enters the playoffs as a heavy favorite. For example, over the last 70 years, only four MVPs didn't have home court advantage in the opening round. In all four cases, those MVPs failed to win a single road game and therefore failed to win a single playoff series. But when an MVP on one of the league's top teams can't get out of the first round, that's the real anomaly.
So, if Kobe Bryant has the seventh-seeded Lakers with a 44% and 41% road win percentage in 2006 and 2007 had actually beaten the second-seeded Suns who won 75% and 80% of their home games, that would have been the real anomaly. And by the way, even against those odds, Kobe still managed to win one road game. And late game officiating like this also cost him a chance to win another one.
He's found his teammates all afternoon, gets inside.
He thought he was fouled.
Oh, he staggers, [cheering] no doubt about that. But a foul called against the Lakers, against Odom.
Kobe thought that he was hit on the side of the face.
All right, there's your move. There's your stagger. Now, there's no hit there. That's where he thought the foul was, right there. It was late, but it caught him up close to the face.
But he staggered before that. See, he could not elevate because right here, he could not get up.
Yeah, he got hit.
Yes, he did.
Kobe Bryant very upset.
He was upset on the play.
[music]
That's right. You can see he's uh no doubt about it.
Instead of cutting the deficit to two points, the Lakers found themselves down by six instead. Kobe was still capable of his casual miracles.
Out here on the switches, close out THE THREE. BRYANT
OH, WAY DOWNTOWN.
FROM WELL BEYOND THE ARC.
You don't want to foul him, but you have to.
But but right there, when you switch, you've got to close that guy out.
But by then, there was neither enough time nor much point. Losing to a much stronger team with a clearly superior roster isn't an anomaly. It's the expected outcome.
But let's get back to the best players. As you've probably noticed from the Kobe example alone, my opinion doesn't always match Nick Wright's when it comes to who the best player in the league was at any given time. For example, Michael Jordan failed to get out of the first round in 1987 after losing to the 59-win Celtics. There's nothing anomalous about that, either. But Nick believes Jordan didn't become the best player until the early '90s. According to him, Magic Johnson was still the best player in 1987. So, rather than speculate on that and to avoid contradictions, let's simply agree with Nick's own view of who the best players were.
In the history of the game, well, it's from Bill Russell to now, only 13 people have ever carried that belt. The prestigious make-believe best player alive title belt that it has only ever been held in NBA history by the following people. Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain in the '60s, Kareem almost the entirety of the '70s, Moses Malone briefly late '70s to early '80s, Larry Bird in the mid-'80s, Magic Johnson after that, Michael Jordan obviously in the early '90s, Hakeem Olajuwon, then back to Jordan. After Jordan that time, it was Shaq, then Duncan. This is the part Ty gets upset about. Then LeBron to Giannis.
What the [ __ ]
Let's start with Wilt Chamberlain, who by the way is sixth on Nick's all-time list. In 1966, Wilt was the league MVP and his Philadelphia 76ers had the best record in the NBA. He lost his very first playoff series. Technically, it wasn't the first round because as a division winner, Philadelphia received a bye straight into the division finals. And he didn't lose to just anyone. He lost to Bill Russell, whose Celtics finished only one win behind the Sixers. Still, despite having home court advantage, MVP Wilt Chamberlain failed to win a single playoff series that year.
Next comes the player Nick believes was the best in the world all the way through the end of the '70s, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In 1973, Kareem and the Bucks won 60 games, but were eliminated in their very first playoff series by the 47-win Golden State Warriors. Apparently, that wasn't anomalous enough for Nick, who ranks Kareem as the second greatest player ever, right behind LeBron, of course.
[music]
The 1975 MVP was Bob McAdoo. His Buffalo Braves went 49 and 33, but lost to the 60-win Washington Bullets in the first round. Interestingly, the Braves won all three of their home games, but lost all four on the road. That same year, the incredible Kareem missed the playoffs altogether with a 38 and 44 record. The following season, Kareem joined the Lakers, won yet another MVP award, and once again missed the playoffs with a 40-42 record. By the way, he's the only MVP in the last 70 years to win the award with a losing record.
Before 1975, the NBA playoffs had only three rounds. In 1975, a new preliminary round was added involving four teams. It resembled today's play-in tournament in some ways. The top teams didn't participate, and the series were only best of three. Two years later, that play-in round expanded to eight teams, and it didn't become a full-fledged first round until 1984. So, from this point on, I'll simply refer to it as the play-in round.
In 1978, Kareem won 45 games and reached the play-in round, where the Lakers lost to another wild card team, the 47-win Seattle SuperSonics. Since we've reached the end of the '70s, this is roughly when Nick Wright believes Moses Malone replaced Kareem as the best player in the league.
Moses Malone, briefly, late '70s to early '80s.
This was also the year Moses made his first All-Star team, but missed the playoffs with a 28 and 54 record. So, I guess his time hadn't quite come yet. In 1979, Kareem and the Lakers won the play-in round by beating the 47-win Nuggets 2-1. But then, the 52-win Seattle SuperSonics easily eliminated them 4-1 in a full best-of-seven series. Nick most likely considers this the year Moses Malone officially became the best player in the league, since he won his first MVP. And from that point through 1985, led the NBA in both total rebounds and offensive rebounds. Yet, his 47-win Rockets, despite having home-court advantage, lost 0-2 to the 46-win Hawks.
With Magic arriving, the Lakers won the championship in 1980. The following year, Magic missed half of the season. Even without him, the Lakers still played at a 62% winning percentage. Once he returned, that number jumped to 70%. But his absence cost them the division first place. So, despite winning 54 games, the Lakers had to play in the play-in round. And those defending champions with Magic and Kareem, who ranked fourth and second respectively on Nick's all-time list, lost 2-1 to the Rockets with a 40 and 42 losing record.
He'd almost single-handedly defeated Philadelphia with a 42-point performance in last year's final to bring Los Angeles the crown. But Johnson's off-balance shot is short. Moses Malone rebounds and the Rockets can feel an upset.
[cheering]
The Lakers get the ball back for one last-ditch attempt at salvaging their title. Kareem makes a court-length pass to Wilkes, but his desperation shot falls short and the surprising Houston Rockets can jump for joy.
In 1982, Moses Malone was the MVP, the league's rebounding leader, and averaged 31 points per game. Yet, his 46-win Rockets lost two to one to the 52-win Seattle SuperSonics in the play-in round.
Okay, well, that's an anomaly in NBA history. The idea that in this sport, you have the best player in the world I and you can't get out of the first round. Moses Malone had it. People can argue against me, they are wrong. Moses Malone had it in the very early '80s. Then Magic and Bird went back and forth.
Bird made it through the play-in round in 1983, but in the full best-of-seven series, his 56-win Celtics got swept by the 51-win Milwaukee Bucks. In 2007, Dirk Nowitzki won MVP and led the Mavericks to the league's best record at 67 wins, only to lose in the first round to the 42-win Warriors. MVP Russell Westbrook and his 43-win Thunder lost in the first round to the 55-win Rockets. In 2019, LeBron missed the playoffs. You might think that by 2019, Nick had already moved on to Giannis as the best player in the world since Giannis won his first MVP and led the Bucks to 60 wins that year. But no, even in 2020, Nick still considered LeBron the best player in the league.
The best player in basketball is LeBron.
Who just one year later would lose in the first round of the playoffs. Now it's finally Giannis' turn. In 2023, Giannis and his 58 win Bucks lost in the first round to the 44 win Heat. In 2025, Giannis and his 48 win Bucks lost in the first round to the 50 win Indiana.
Listen, I'm done killing Joker. When they announce he wins MVP and his season is already over and he might already be back in Serbia riding that chariot and not even there to collect the award, this thing's going to flip.
And in 2026, after years of hating, Nick Wright finally accepted that Nikola Jokic is the best player in the world.
I thought Shay deserved to win league MVP. But he's not the best player in the world. And he might have had, I think going into the playoffs, Colin, most people, myself, I thought Joker was the best player in the world.
Same.
But his 54 win Denver Nuggets also failed to get past the first round.
Okay, well that's an anomaly in NBA history.
So that's a pretty regular anomaly if you ask me.
Cuz I've said some very clear and obvious truths.
But once again, unlike Jokic, Giannis, Dirk, Kareem, Magic, and Moses, Kobe only lost in the first round to teams that were clearly better than his own.
[music]
Hey, you know how competitive he gets. Kobe down the lane, in on Bynum, drives, lays it in, draws the foul. Artest fouled out of the game. That was all precipitated by Kobe and Monte going at it.
[music]
Up top, he said, "Okay, I'm going to show you what I have." And on that play, he had a lot. Yeah, that's what it's about there, isn't it?