Michael Jordan Gives His Verdict on Magic Johnson Winning MVP Despite Jordan’s 37.1 Points Per Game Average
Michael Jordan was incredible. He won the MVP five times during his career. He could have won more awards too. The award is now called the Michael Jordan trophy. But in one season, 1986-87, he lost to Magic Johnson in a very exciting way.
People still fight about who gets the MVP award, even now. The last few times they gave the award, it was very close. In 1987, Michael Jordan didn’t win the award even though he scored 37.1 points on average. He was confused and wondered if it was fair.
Michael Jordan on Magic Johnson
“No, not at all. I think that both of us had good years, but sometimes you have to question what are the credentials for the MVP. No one really knows. How valuable you are to the team and to the league itself. And what you do to contribute to both of them,” Jordan revealed if he had any issue with Magic Johnson winning MVP.
In that season, Michael Jordan had much better stats than Magic Johnson. He scored an amazing 37.1 points per game, while Magic scored 23.9. Jordan also had more steals and blocks. The only area where Magic was ahead was in assists. The big debate is about their team’s records. Magic led the Lakers to the best record in the league, while Jordan’s Bulls barely made it to the playoffs. The 25-win difference probably influenced the vote in Magic’s favor.
Jordan claimed his defensive contributions were ignored
That year, Michael Jordan came in second place in the MVP race. He got 449 points, which shows that people recognized how great he was. However, Magic Johnson got 733 points and Jordan thought that the voters might have missed how good he was at defense.
“I don’t like to lead the league in scoring. But I think other parts of my game were not acknowledged as they should have been. To have over 100 blocks and over 100 steals also, I think you have to be contributing in other areas as well as scoring,” he said.
Some fans were angry at the time that Michael Jordan did not receive the MVP award. Jordan won five MVP honors during his career, and the trophy is now named after him.
