Jerry West's FMVP while losing...(Will it ever happen again?) Look at his numbers and how close series was...

[Handlez]

It seems like every year, we question if a losing player will finally join the great Jerry West by winning FMVP.

As we all know, teams win championships, but sometimes the best player, such as Luka this year, doesn't have the support needed to win. However, the award is finals MVP, not MVP for the winning team.

When Jerry won, the series went to 7 games. In game 7, West had 42, 13, and 12, but the Lakers lost 108-106. For the series, Jerry averaged 38, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists on 49% and 89% from the line.

As you can see, it took an extremely close series, a down to the wire game 7, and a great individual performance from West.

I'm not sure we ever see it happen again because too many things need to happen.

[mkot]

While I agreed Luka is the best player in the series I just don't think his performance and numbers justifies him winning it.

[Handlez]

While I agreed he is the best player in the series I just don't think his performance and numbers justifies him winning it.

Who, Jerry?

I thought Jerry deserved it.

And he's rightfully the only player that ever deserved it.

[WarriorGM]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that the award was actually given before Game 7.

[mkot]

While I agreed he is the best player in the series I just don't think his performance and numbers justifies him winning it.

Who, Jerry?

I thought Jerry deserved it.

And he's rightfully the only player that ever deserved it.

I meant Luka. Sorry I will edit my post

[Black Jack]

I think the TV era demands MVP be from the winning team, its sort of part of the ceremony.

That said I voted yes, possibly a dominant player like Wemby drags a bad team to the finals and is dominant but loses and gets MVP.

[Mavrelous]

Even if giving FMVP to the loser was more of a norm, no one in the Mavs qualifies for FMVP really...

[Revived]

If LeBron in 2015 didn’t get it then I don’t think we’ll see it in any of our lifetimes that a player from the losing team gets it. But who knows, I could be wrong.

[ellobo]

If LeBron in 2015 didn’t get it then I don’t think we’ll see it in any of our lifetimes that a player from the losing team gets it. But who knows, I could be wrong.

That was a 6 game series and the Cavs were outscored by 43 total points (7.2 per game).

In 1969, when West won, it was a 7 game series, the Lakers actually outscored the Celtics by 3 total points, and game 7 was a 2 point game in which West had 42pts/12ast/13reb.

As the OP mentioned, I think it would take both a dominant individual performance over the whole series AND an extremely close 7 game series. I also think the awkwardness of a trophy presentation for someone whose team just lost the championship would influence voters to default to a player on the winning team, probably more so now than back in the day.

[TheSheriff]

I just don’t see it. At the end of the day, the goal is to win the championship. If a players team loses, even if that player having an insane performance, he did not do enough to make his team win. The award does not reward what a player did to get his team there, it rewards the outcome of the series and how that player contributed to that outcome.

[EmpireFalls]

No because the media knows that they’d get destroyed over doing so. This is not to say that a losing player will never get votes, iirc that’s happened a few times recently most notably in 2015.

[Joshyjess]

While I agreed Luka is the best player in the series I just don't think his performance and numbers justifies him winning it.

Luka, the best player in the series???? Seriously? Sure, he's scored the most points, but he's given up more points than he's scored. He's been one of the worst defensive players to ever play in a Finals Series, and as a leader he leaves a lot to be desired. Either Brown or Holiday are easily the best 2 players in this series (unless all you go by are how many points a player scores).

[hauntedcomputer]

If LeBron in 2015 didn’t get it then I don’t think we’ll see it in any of our lifetimes that a player from the losing team gets it. But who knows, I could be wrong.

James put forth a monumental effort but he shot 40 percent.

West's award was when it was given for the first time ever, so all this weird narrative/legacy garbage hadn't fermented into full putrid swill yet.

"Valuable" has long since turned into whatever is most valuable for all those whose snouts are deep in the NBA money trough, included the voters.

[Doctor MJ]

It seems like every year, we question if a losing player will finally join the great Jerry West by winning FMVP.

As we all know, teams win championships, but sometimes the best player, such as Luka this year, doesn't have the support needed to win. However, the award is finals MVP, not MVP for the winning team.

When Jerry won, the series went to 7 games. In game 7, West had 42, 13, and 12, but the Lakers lost 108-106. For the series, Jerry averaged 38, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists on 49% and 89% from the line.

As you can see, it took an extremely close series, a down to the wire game 7, and a great individual performance from West.

I'm not sure we ever see it happen again because too many things need to happen.

I think Iggy’s Finals MVP showed pretty clearly that the voters think differently - and worse - than in 1969. In a series where you had the two best players in the world - LeBron and Curry - where they were both quite clearly the best player in their respective teams, the voters chose to give it to someone else entirely. Just embarrassing really.

That said, I’m don’t think it’s impossible for the loser to win Finals MVP. I’d guess that they’d have given the 2015 if he’d been able to force the series to 7 like West, and so I think that’s basically the secret sauce.

Incidentally I don’t think anyone has ever thought that a guy from the losing team in a 4-0 or 4-1 series was a serious contender. I’m not going to say it’s literally impossible that I personally couldn’t believe such a thing in the right scenario, but it would be an extremely unusual situation…and 2024 isn’t one of them.


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[SweaterBae]

It should be mandatory that the FMVP is from the winning team. It's more valuable to score two points in a 1 point game 7 win than 50 points in the loss. No?

[hugepatsfan]

West averaged 38/7/5 compared to Hondo on the Celtics 28/11/4, who was their only overly impressive statistical performer. There was a gap there. It was also a close 7 game series and a close game 7 where voters were forced to actually contemplate the idea of either team winning.

Luka is averaging 29/9/6 (with visually bad defense) compared to Jaylen Brown at 24/6/6 (with visually great defense). Luka is better, but that won't cut it, especially with the outcome not in doubt as of right now. It'd take a wider statistical gap and a closer series for it to ever be a real consideration.

[xdrta+]

Silly to even think of a FMVP from the losing team. Voters realized what a mistake that was the first time and never did it again.

[Lalouie]

It seems like every year, we question if a losing player will finally join the great Jerry West by winning FMVP.

As we all know, teams win championships, but sometimes the best player, such as Luka this year, doesn't have the support needed to win. However, the award is finals MVP, not MVP for the winning team.

When Jerry won, the series went to 7 games. In game 7, West had 42, 13, and 12, but the Lakers lost 108-106. For the series, Jerry averaged 38, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists on 49% and 89% from the line.

As you can see, it took an extremely close series, a down to the wire game 7, and a great individual performance from West.

I'm not sure we ever see it happen again because too many things need to happen.

There's also the split vote factor. if the mavs were making a game of it, Luka would probably get the MVP because Tatum and brown split the votes

[bigboi]

While I agreed Luka is the best player in the series I just don't think his performance and numbers justifies him winning it.

Luka has not been the best player in the series. What are talking about here. Like he hasn’t even been close to the best

[Woodsanity]

If Luka took it to 7 games and average 35/10/10 I would be ok with it but with his current play he aint even close.