James is King of NBA - 2008-09 MVP

Lebron James was crowned with the NBA's prestigious MVP award on Monday May 4th, 2009, giving him yet another achievement worthy of his superstar resume. The King received 109 of 121 possible first place votes, getting 1,172 total points from media members in both the United States & Canada. Coming in second was last year's MVP, Kobe Bryant, followed by Dwyane Wade, Orlando's Dwight Howard and New Orleans Hornet, Chris Paul. What makes this award so impressive is that King James the new MVP has achieved it at the very young age of 24.

James was scheduled to receive his MVP award in the same high school gym where he began his famed career. The media were already placing heaps of responsibility and accolades upon the young man before he even laced up his signature Nikes or shot a jumpshot as a Cleveland Cavalier. Now, James and his Cavs are poised for a possible run at the NBA title.

Lebron also joins two other high school ballers turned pro and won the MVP award: Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant. Bryant & James continue to be compared by basketball fanatics as to who the current best in the game is. For this moment in time and the regular season, it may be Lebron, but that question may be restated if there's a Lakers-Cavs NBA Finals.

Lebron James = Midseason MVP

During ESPN's NBA Shootaround show on Friday night, both Avery Johnson and Jalen Rose chose Lebron James as their "Midseason NBA MVP". Avery Johnson said he considers Lebron as having a shot at the MVP as well as Defensive Player of the Year. Jalen Rose agreed with Avery's midseason MVP, and added in that the best closer in the game is Kobe Bryant while the best point guard is Chris Paul. Host of NBA Shootaround, Looking at King James' stats in the chart below, it's clear he's on pace for the award as he's helping out with just about every important stat on the floor, offensively and defensely.

ESPN featured a doubleheader afterwards with 4 of the top 5 MVP candidates from 2007-08 as well as the 3 top teams from the league in action. Lebron's Cavs faced Chris Paul's Hornets in Game 1. Game 2 featured Kobe Bryant and the Lakers versus Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. One of these four players could be the surefire MVP as the 2008-09 award is handed out. Last year saw Kobe take the award over Chris Paul. In reviewing the stats below each of these players is statistically sound and quite capable of putting up the tough-to-achieve quadruple double in stats. All four men were also a part of last year's Gold Medal Summer Olympics squad and according to Jalen Rose are setting themselves up as legendary Hall of Fame players.

Current stats for the four MVP candidates:

Lebron James 27.7 PPG, 6.90 RPG, 6.7 APG, 2.0 SPG, 1.3 BPG
Cleveland Cavaliers (30-7)

Chris Paul 20.8 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 11 APG, 2.91 SPG, 0.1 BPG
New Orleans Hornets (23-12)

Kobe Bryant 27.2PPG, 5.3 RPG, 4.7 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.4 BPG
Los Angeles Lakers (31-7)

Dwight Howard 20.2 PPG, 13.8 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 3.2 BPG
Orlando Magic (31-8)