For the fourth time in five seasons, Damian Lillard appeared on an NBA Most Valuable Player award ballot. In 2019-20, he finished with the No. 8 spot.
It’s been nearly a month since he officially put the cap on his 2019-20 season, but the accolades continue to come for Damian Lillard. Giannis Antetokounmpo brought home his second consecutive Most Valuable Player award, but somewhere down the line, the Portland Trail Blazers star finished with the No. 8 spot on the ballots.
Here’s a look at the official voting ballots, per ESPN’s Rachel Nichols.
MVP voting results. As I’ve said on TV 100x, I voted for Giannis, because the award right now is for who had the best stats in the regular season, not for who is the NBA’s best player. Which I have said on TV 1000x is...outdated. Needs to be separate awards for Best Season & MVP pic.twitter.com/K3qpgZYxO5
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) September 18, 2020
The No. 8 spot in the Most Valuable Player award voting caps off what’s already been an eventful week for Lillard. He became the first Blazer to make five All-NBA teams. Now, he puts together his fourth season with an appearance on an NBA ballot. Perhaps most impressive, some within the media saw him as a top-3 player in terms of overall importance.
For his career, here’s where he’s finished: No. 8 during the 2015-16 season, No. 4 in 2017-18, No. 6 in 2018-19, and No. 8 in 2019-20.
Given time to reflect, it’s an interesting proposition, thinking about if Damian Lillard has a legitimate chance on actually winning the award someday.
Lillard’s numbers were about as virtuosic as we’ve seen from other brilliant offense point guards of the past decade to win the MVP award, namely Russell Westbrook and Stephen Curry. Like Lillard, they each averaged 30 points per game and had the one-of-a-kind season or storyline to match. The redeemable traits for an MVP are there, and Lillard has chipped away at working towards a similar national appeal.
The health of his team is largely out of his control, but that could be the driving force behind team success. If he’s able to match an elite team with the brilliance he’s produced year-to-year, that conversation certainly gains traction.
In the meantime, a top-10 finish in MVP voting for the fourth time in five seasons is certainly nothing to sneeze at.