Boston Celtics: 5 thoughts, highlights from NBA GM Survey

Kyrie Irving earns votes in several categories

In a vote that was more split than last year’s, LeBron James and Kevin Durant led the way with 30 percent and 27 percent, respectively, in the MVP predictor. Some unknown quantity of GMs voted that Boston Celtics star Kyrie Irving will win the 2018-2019 MVP award.

In a post about a year ago, I argued that Irving likely wouldn’t enter the discussion in 2017-2018, but could in later years.

There’s certainly a strong case to be made for his candidacy this year. Irving was the key cog in Boston’s offense last season, when healthy. He was an elite scorer for them, upped his effort on the defensive end, and was by all accounts a great leader and teammate.

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Narrative matters a lot for these things. Last season, Irving’s narrative was cluttered with flat-earth jokes (okay, those will never go away) and a feeling that his leaving Cleveland was a diva-move. But things have changed a lot in a year.

His departure from Cleveland is infrequently talked about, and if anything is used to paint him as smart and mature. He’s taking a class at Harvard Business School now, and he has come off as thoughtful and self-aware in interviews. If he stays healthy and leads the Boston Celtics to a top-two seed, his MVP narrative could look very strong.

Also worth noting: Irving tied with Chris Paul for third in the ‘best point guard in the NBA’ vote, behind only Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook. He did not receive any votes in that discussion last year. Irving also earned 7 percent of the vote for the player who’s fastest with the ball, and received votes in the ‘best pure shooter’ question; he was the only non-Warrior to earn a vote. When asked which player they’d want taking a shot with the game on the line, Irving received 10 percent of the vote.