While the NBA has seen several players earn criticism for their play, or lack thereof, NBA World on Reddit crowned the Least Valuable Player, and it may surprise some.
Players like Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving, and Ben Simmons were maligned for their performances during the 2021-2022 NBA season, but none of them earned the dishonor of winning the Least Valuable Player award.
Part of the reason why Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons did not win the award was due to the criteria to earn the distinction from NBA World on Reddit.
On Kyrie Irving, NBA World had the following to say about why he did not win the Least Valuable Player:
“Irving was willing to play basketball if the local rules allowed, so it’s hard to fault him more than other players who also remained unvaccinated. He’s also — like him or not — really F’ing good at basketball. To that end: his BPM (box plus minus, meant to illustrate a player’s impact per 100 possessions) is easily the highest on our list.”
For Ben Simmons, they came to the following conclusion:
“It’s difficult to give concrete answers to that; I imagine most older folks would call him ‘soft’ while many younger fans would give him the benefit of the doubt. At the end of the day, we’ll reluctantly avoid tagging him with the trophy; we’re not a big enough organization to fight a Rich Paul lawsuit.”
Russell Westbrook was a heavy favorite for the Least Valuable Player award.
Totally Real NBA Awards:Least Valuable Player: Russell WestbrookDefensive Liability of the Year: James HardenLeast Improved: Frank KaminskyRookie of the Year: Ben SimmonsShould have been on the bench 6th man: Julius RandleGM of the Year: LeBron James
Ultimately, Russ came in second on the list, whereas Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving were just (dis)honorable mentions.
“Given his contract, that’s a disaster. But if we ignore contracts as mandated, I don’t think he’s the worst of the worst. If anything, he’d inspire us to debate a change to the ‘contract’ rule for the future.”
With three names that many people believed were the LVP off the list, the winner comes as a surprise for anyone who did not watch the player play.
Facundo Campuzzo wins the Least Valuable Player Award from NBA World
In what ended up being a tight race, NBA World deemed Facundo Campazzo the Least Valuable Player.
“In fact, the debate came down to the wire and the last day of the regular season, when Campazzo gave us the LVP version of a ‘Heisman moment’ with a cheap shot shove to Wayne Ellington.”
The deciding incident would also cost Campazzo during the NBA Playoffs.
Denver will be without Facundo Campazzo in Game 1 vs. Golden State. NBA suspended him one game without pay for forcefully shoving Lakers guard Wayne Ellington to the floor from behind. Ellington fined $20K for escalating incident w/a threatening comment on social media postgame. https://t.co/GYTkwUahnY
While Facundo Campazzo’s play earned him the award, some fans on Reddit were unhappy about the decision.
“I can’t believe Russ lost to a carrot.”
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Russell Westbrook’s loss is, somewhat, of a surprise given the criticism he has seen, but NBA World did give legitimate reasons for the decision.
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