James Harden Thinks Giannis Antetokounmpo Won MVP Because of Media Narrative

James Harden performed remarkably well last season after a slow start, scoring 36.1 points per game. That’s the highest-scoring season in a long time, but it wasn’t enough to win MVP. Instead, that title went to Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had an equally monstrous season. During a recent interview on 97.9 The Box, Harden shared his thoughts on why he lost out to Giannis. When it was suggested that “politics” played a part, Harden agreed.

“I think once the media, they create a narrative about somebody from the beginning of the year, I think they just take that narrative and run with it the entire year,” Harden explains at the six-minute mark of the interview. “I don’t want to get into details. But all I can do is control what I can do, and I went out there and did what I was supposed to do at a high level. You know what I’m saying?”

As for his impressive performance throughout the last NBA season, Harden added, “The season, there’s probably only a few seasons where anybody’s ever done that before.” He continued, “People were tuned in onto how many points that I was going to score the next game.” For 30 games in a row, Harden scored 30 or more points, making it the second-longest streak behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 65-game streak in ’61-’62.

The Houston Rockets had Harden’s back when it was announced that Antetokounmpo won MVP at the NBA Awards in June, although they were promptly clowned on Twitter for it.