This season the MVP race would probably go down between two men.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Harden are on a collision course for the MVP plum, but only one guy would get to hoist the trophy at the end of the season.
Their MVP battle is one for the ages. It feels like every time one of them provides a performance that tilts the MVP vote to their favor, the other one would respond with an MVP worthy performance of his own.
Despite their epic back and forth, it still pales in comparison to what happened in the 1962 MVP Race. Yep, we’re going old school in this one as we’ll take a look back at the MVP race that happened 57 years ago.
1962 was a historic year in terms of individual greatness for NBA players.
If you’re not aware, this is the season where Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points while averaging 48.5 minutes per games (the .5 is because of overtimes).
In that same season, Wilt scored 100 points in a game. His stat line that year was a mind-boggling 50.4 points, 25.7 rebounds, and 2.4 assists. Despite those numbers, Wilt didn’t win the MVP.
As I said earlier, 1962 was a great year for individual greatness. That same season, Oscar Robertson averaged a triple-double for the year. He pumped 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 11.4 assists per game that season.
That triple-double record stood until Westbrook broke it in 2017. However, that still wasn’t enough for Robertson to win the MVP award. Ultimately, it went to another legendary player.
Bill Russell won the MVP award in 1962. 18.9 points, 23.6 rebounds, and 4.5 assists. Despite the comparably inferior numbers, he did lead the Celtics to 60 wins. On the other hand, Chamberlain’s team only won 49 while Robertson’s only had 43 victories.
It was a pretty crazy MVP race as the candidates posted insane numbers. Ultimately, Bill Russell got the nod as he accumulated a total of 297 points. Chamberlain and Robertson came in third and fourth with 152 and 135 points respectively.
