If FINALS MVPs Were Given To the BEST Player (1969-Present) 

How would you change the list? For those of you who’ve been following the series, 1969 to 1979 is brand new, and that begins at 1:08. 2020-2022 is also brand new, and that begins at 1:06:58.

I always knew Magic was one of the best ever, but I didn’t realized he was that good and consistent in the finals.

Gonna be great next hour

Shaq was a freaking monster. People forget just how impossible he was to guard. Guy literally decimated Mutombo in the Finals... Who won the DPOY award that year.

Watching West play on those old clips feels a lot more recent than it really is. I feel like West really was ahead of his time.

Why don't you make a video of the best players of the playoffs as a whole since 1959-60 season? It would be cool to see how different it would be from the Finals MVP and it would be an interesting complement to the regular season best players video. Keep it up the great work! 🥳🥳

To recapitulate, this is the list of the Finals MVP of this video: 1969: Jerry West (Los Angeles Lakers) 1970: Jerry West (Los Angeles Lakers) 1971: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Milwaukee Bucks) 1972: Wilt Chamberlain (Los Angeles 1973 - Walt Frazier (New York Knicks) 1974: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Milwaukee Bucks) 1975: Rick Barry (Golden State Warriors) 1976: Dave Cowens (Boston Celtics) 1977: Julius Erving (Philadelphia 76ers) 1978: Elvin Hayes (Washington Bullets) 1979: Dennis Johnson (Seattle Supersonics) 1980: Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers) 1981: Larry Bird (Boston Celtics) 1982: Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers) 1983: Moses Malone (Philadelphia 76ers) 1984: Larry Bird (Boston Celtics) 1985: Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers) 1986: Larry Bird (Boston Celtics) 1987: Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers) 1988: Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers) 1989: Joe Dumars (Detroit Pistons) 1990: Isiah Thomas (Detroit Pistons) 1991: Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls) 1992: Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls) 1993: Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls) 1994: Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets) 1995: Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets) 1996: Shawn Kemp (Seattle Supersonics) 1997: Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls) 1998: Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls) 1999: Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs) 2000: Shaquille O'Neal (Los Angeles Lakers) 2001: Shaquille O'Neal (Los Angeles Lakers) 2002: Shaquille O'Neal (Los Angeles Lakers) 2003: Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs) 2004: Shaquille O'Neal (Los Angeles Lakers) 2005: Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs) 2006: Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat) 2007: Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs) 2008: Kevin Garnett (Boston Celtics) 2009: Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers) 2010: Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers) 2011: Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat) 2012: LeBron James (Miami Heat) 2013: LeBron James (Miami Heat) 2014: LeBron James (Miami Heat) 2015: LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers) 2016: LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers) 2017: Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors) 2018: Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors) 2019: Kawhi Leonard (Toronto Raptors) 2020: LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers) 2021: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks) 2022: Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)

I love long play content from you, man. You do this NBA RU-vid content shit on the highest level & I can’t wait to see more. Would love more longplay style videos. Maybe more full career retrospectives etc etc

Ngl I didn't realize how much Magic and Bird owned the 80s 😭

The footage is great and the content is fabulous! There is no better basketball history channel than this one. Keep it up Johnny we basketball fans thank you!

Chamberlain had 8 blocks in game 5 of the '72 finals - 24 points, 29 rebounds, 8 blocks, and 8 assists. I watched the game.

Suggestion: The best player in every finals before the Finals MVP award existed (1947-1968)

Damn, you are dropping the absolut best Basketball content at the moment

Great video! 2017 could go either way between KD and Bron, but 2018 should definitely have gone to Lebron in my opinion. His stats are pretty much the same while being as good or better on defense and with WAY less help. Lebron’s efficiency with the Warriors would have been absurd, Lebron had to carry a team of make a wish kids.

Just got off work and my man Johnny dropped a hour video. Made my da thanks bro

been waiting for this one, i already know its gonna be great

You should've wait until this season ended so you could add Finals MVP of this year, but anyway, thanks for this video, it's very enjoyable.

Great video as always Jonny! Would you consider making a video about who you think the playoff MVPs were for each year (for players who made at least the conference finals)

Although Scottie guarded Magic for the majority of game 2, Jordan guarded him the most overall during that series. Also, I find it incredibly difficult to give a player FMVP on the losing team, especially if the series didn't even go 7 games.

Making a lot of videos these days.. your inspiration made us think deeper how NBA should be perceived

Very professionally made. You have reasoning for your picks so that the watcher can understand your decision and make their own. Well done

I feel like nobody remembers Walt Frazier these days. He was retired by the time I started watching in the mid '80s, but he was still very well known as one of the great guards, he was in commercials and everything... these days I hardly ever hear about Clyde unless I'm watching one of your videos.

jonny these last few vids have been incredible keep it up !

I have to give it to lebron in 2017. That stat line is too insane

Been comin in hot with the content lately. Love it.

I still think Dirk deserves the 2011 FMVP. Wade played well but his stats doesn’t stand out significantly over Dirk. In that series, you could tell Dirk was truly determined to win.

Do you plan on including pre-1969? I know the award didn't exist, but it won't stop you from giving your opinion. I'd love to see how many finals MVPs you think Russell would have, as I think the lack of those accolades hurt his position in all-time rankings. Edited a misspelled word

MJs down year in the 96 finals is due to the fact it was the first finals he played without his dad, and with father's day happening in game 6, he was filled with so much emotion in that series and that's why he broke down after winning it.

This review is excellent.

2016 Finals.Have mercy James! What a complete performance.

Good list. Great information. Awesome remarks. I don't agree with a few, but it is a very good job

I always forget how much of a beast west was.

great video 🙌🏼 but it seems a little repetitive, if you would have seperated it to 5 vids, i think you would have gotten a lot more klicks and watched minutes but still great 🙌🏼 thanks for the work you put in 🙏🏼

On the 2005 finals Manu Ginobilli had a real chance with 18.7 pts - 6 rebounds - 4 ast and 1.3 steals per game with a 50% FG. With a cluth game 7 being the best player on that game with similar stats that Duncan but with a crazy FG% of 61%. Crazy that you not even name him on this video.

Great video! I'm actually making my own 75 list and this plus the real reg mvp list is helping too! I wonder if you have ever thought of redoing the DPOY?

ThanQ! Great work Great listening Keep ii going

People forget that Kobe played in the 2010 playoffs riddled with injuries. Bone spur in his ankle, degenerating knee, and broke his index finger in his shooting hand. Mamba mentality showed its presence the most that season.

Gonna keep the 2015 FInals MVP and give that to Steph. LeBron put up the stats of 35/13/8 but he shot 39% from the field in the process and if his name wasn't "LeBron James" people would have been comparing those numbers to Westbrook instead. Where they are big numbers, but the lack of efficiency winds up being costly. Consider the fact as well that Klay Thompson didn't show up that series and the fact that Andre Igoudala was the 2nd best player on the Warriors that Finals tells you everything. Steph had to carry, a lot more than he's given credit for in that series and if you look at the stats of both teams it was the most evenly matched Finals series that LeBron has likely been in since the "Big 3 eras" began. It was literally a showdown between Steph and LeBron as to who could carry their team over the jump. LeBron's inefficiency came back to bite him, and Steph was able to bring his team over the hump in the crucial game of that series. So Steph gets it on his efficiency and the fact that when the teams were statistically even, either he or LeBron had to be the one to take their team over the hump and Curry did, whilst LeBron did not and LeBron's 39% from the field shouldn't be overlooked. Again, if his name was Russell Westbrook and not LeBron James, the discussion on what he 'deserves' wouldn't be happening. I'd also give the 2020 Finals MVP to Anthony Davis. Because while he and LeBron were close on their offensive numbers, Davis was at the same time putting up a DPOY effort on defense, and since both sides of the ball count, I'll have to give the edge to Davis even if its just slight because of what he did on the offensive end AND the defensive end. I also gotta give Kareem the 1980 Finals MVP over Magic. Why? Because I think he deserved it, but also I gotta keep you consistent to what you said later in the video about why you have the Finals MVP award to Magic and not Worthy 24:10 "Although he may have had the best individual game which just happened to be the most crucial game, it seemed pretty clear Magic was the best player overall throughout the vast majority of the series." If you are going to use that logic to give Magic the Finals MVP over Worthy vs Detroit.. then to stay consistent you'd have to give that same credit to Kareem and call Magic the one that had "the best individual performance" and Kareem was "the best player overall throughout the vast majority of the series." To keep things consistent with the logic you presented, Kareem gets the Finals MVP in 1980 if Magic gets it in 1988.

What a fantastic video!

Disagree on 2020: AD'd performance was way more important. Whenever he had an off game the Lakers lost.

Man this is a great video 💯 Bro I grew up watching a lot of these, I wish the NBA can make some statistical corrections such as that Timmy D quadruple double To be honest I can't disagree with any of the changes..

Man U are a basketball 🏀 genius I come to your page religiously for😅 nba info ℹ️

Jordan actually guarded Magic more than Pippen did tbroughout the 91 finals despite Pippen being moved onto Magic in game 2..

Amazing video man, congratulations

Love your content. This video and the real regular season mvp video have convinced me to sub.

Great video Jonny, agreed on basically every picks outside of '17 LeBron (the fact that he had a positive +/- in a 5 game series he lost against the 17 Warriors is pretty great). Really appreciated the 2011 pick, Wade series has always been forgotten that year since people love to repeat the narrative about 2011 Dirk (who was really great in the Western playoffs but had just a good Finals). However, I think your use of statistics isn't always perfect. FG% shouldn't be used as an efficiency metric when TS exists and is simply better at evaluating how efficient of a scorer you are. Would be nice to use points per 75 possessions and/or adjust for pace, it doesn't change the series by series analysis but it's better for historical context in my opinion. Regarding Unseld, while I think Hayes was more deserving of the FMVP, it's worth mentioning that basically from the 50s to the late 70s, basketball was way more different than we think. The lack of spacing, no 3PT line and the strict ball handling rules for example severely limited guards, so it explains the shaky efficiency many of them had. Also, while today we think of the classic superstar to be a ball dominant guard that can do it all offensively (and whose defense isn't that concerning since it can be hidden on good teams), in that era, coaching and rules made it that a player like Bill Russell or Wes Unseld was WAY more valuable than the box score suggest. When you have literally no 3PT shots, elite shot blockers' value on a team logically skyrockets since the only valuable/efficient shots are the one near the rim. Unseld is an even weirder case since he really was an all-time defender, rebounder, screener, outlet passer aka all things that are not really catching attention. I'm not arguing for him ahead of Hayes in 78 because that Hayes was also a monster on the defensive end. It's simply something that people often miss when arguing about Russell, Walton, Unseld and many more (not a coincidence that almost every title winning team during the 60s-70s featured a great defensive/rebounding big man with good passing, but their scoring ranges from 67 Wilt to 78 Unseld)

Kareem in 1985 to me still keeps his reward and in 1980 i almost wanna say Kareem should keep jt

Nice video man i love these

If blocks and steals were tracked his whole career I 100% belive Wilt would had tons of triple doubles and maybe even a quadruple double or 2

Hold up, Larry had 15 rebounds a game in a Finals? 🫠

Thanks Jonny for recognizing Shawn Kemp in the 96 Finals. He truly breasted that entire series

I loved that 96 Sonics team, saw them live in game 7 against the Jazz game 4 against the Bulls, regular season against the Bulls an a whole bunch of other games. Never saw them lose in the building that season. They were for real. But, not as good as the Bulls in the end... I still love that team.

Be cool to see if these for super bowls

BRO ONLY HAS 150k subs. Most underrated basketball youtuber

Hakeem has to be the most underrated player of all time. He deseves top 10.

So glad you gave 2011 to Dwade. Bron wasted a year of Dwade’s prime with that loss.

In the 2002 segment, you made a comment that doesn’t make sense when all the videos are combined (the beginning of this video has turned into a Shaq appreciation segment). Great video today!

Nice video, But i have to disagree with KD in 2017 and 2018, although Durant had amazing numbers what Lebron did in 2017 was just absurd(the only triple double average in finals history) and in 2018 he had very similar numbers especially considering that Cavs had a terrible defense in both finals making Durant's job much easier, while Warriors had elite defense so it was harder for Lebron to score

Great video. Personally I'd give the edge in the 2017 (I mean that was a 30+pt triple double in the finals :D) and possibly even the 2018 to Lebron over KD. It's just that I watched these series and I personally got the feeling that Lebron was the most dangerous guy on the court. KD was also absolutely amazing... You can't really go wrong with either of them.

Great documentary

Kevin McHale is one of the most underrated players of all time and that's the honest-to-god truth there is an underrated player of all time it is Kevin McHale he did not make Larry Bird a better player but at the same time they wouldn't have won the games they did without Kevin McHale

KD over Lebron is OD. Lebron was easily the best player in both of those series. He was the entire cavs roster in 2018 as well

For 2022 I would have loved a two way wiggs shout out, he was just awesome

This is the greatest breakdown of MVP in history.

Jonny ur the goat frl

Shawn Kemp guarded Jordan in parts of the Finals and actually prevented Jordan from scoring while resulting in easy, very high percentage baskets for other Bulls teammates.

This is the best series u ever did

Best Nba RU-vidr easy imo. Perfect mix of simple explanations combined with the technical aspects of the game in such an easy to understand way all while very well spoken. Keep it up bro from Australia 🇦🇺

To me, Lebron was the best player over Durant in the 2017 and 2018 finals. This is despite his team being completely overmatched, meaning warriors defense can focus mostly on stopping Lebron, while the Cavs have to stop the 3 headed monster of Durant, Curry, and Klay. This leads Durant to have an easier time scoring and assisting to all-time great shooters. And still in 2017 Lebron put up comparable scoring though less efficient than Durant, but averaged per game 4 more rebounds and 5 more assists. In 2018 they had similar efficiency, but Lebron averaged 5 more points and 2.5 more assists, 2 less rebounds. Though Durant played amazing and had 9% better TS% in 2017, 2% better in 2018. Lebron played even better overall averaging much more rebounds, assists in 2017. More points and assists in 2018.

Manu in 2005 For me. He was more crucial than Tim Duncan in 3 of the 4 games tha San Antonio won. He had an incredibly efficency compares to the normal one of duncan, also an amazing defense and was the clutchest player in the entire serie by far. He lead San antonio in Assist and steals too.

While those 2017-2018 Finals weren't very fun to watch if you weren't a Cavs/Warriors fan, they were extremely fun if you were a Durant/Lebron fan. They were both playing the best offensive basketball of their careers (and you can even argue Durant was playing some of the best defense of his career too)

Drop a like on the video you now this guy has been working like crazy this month

I’m stoned and the background music is AMAZING in my headphones! 🔥🔌

You’ve got the voice for this.

Magic should be in the thumbnail instead of Lebron. Magic did it all on the Lakers and earned every ounce of his success from start to finish...same as Kobe. Magic is the NBA PG GOAT. Stockton is the pure basketball GOAT. Something that these guys(Magic Bird Jordan Kobe Kareem Olajuwon Wilt Stockton) all have in common is that they werent just great athletes but they were assassins and had tremendous hearts as well as brains and pride with remarkable humility. Only the top teir greats/legends/goats have this. Finals MVPs are more legit and less political than regular season ones but they didnt always get it right.

Bird shot 41% from the field. And he had 2 horrible games and was the reason that they lost those games. Maxwell didn't want to take anymore chances and came into the locker room and told the team to get on his back in game 5 and he took them home. Which he did. MVP Maxwell

A hour? My workday just got that much better.

2:07 West limping after ft and massive triple double, impressive.

Great video! Only one thing, the 2020 NBA finals was a 6 games series not 5 games

I agree with pretty much the entire video except for 2014, Kawhi still deserved the MVP as he absolutely outplayed Lebron in games 3,4, and 5 that series. Still a great video as usual💯

I'll admit that for the past few months, I've been saying that steph is #1 pg ever, but after you explained what magic was doing in the finals, i have changed my mind completely. Never realised he made that much of an impact. I thought he was just a good passer

Lord why have you blessed us so well we don’t deserve this

You should’ve done a graphic at the end showing who would have the most fmvps now. As well as how many more fmpvs people won/lost. Just like you did in the mvp recap video.

a video on Dream Team 2 (94 FIBA Team) Please

I'm not sure your tally in the description is quite right - I believe you gave Shaq the '04 one for example, but he only has 3 on your tally. Either way, thanks for putting this out!

I love to hear when someone gives some love and respect for Tim Duncan

my man jonny i like the video but wassup with the change in your voice when talking about 2020 hahaha

disagreed with 17 and 18 only, great video

Its about damn time that someone said Lebron was only slightly better than curry in 2015 finals. were comparing 60% TS to 50% TS

This list especially during the Laker's run in the 2000s shows why Tim Duncan's career was better than Kobe's.

Amazing

With how shaq and kobe played in their 3peat. It's more like Shaq's superman to Kobe's batman tbh🤷‍♂️

You describing how good Lebron was in 2014 is precisely why Kawhi deserved it that year.

Naw Larry didn’t deserve fmvp in 81 imo. Back to back 8 point games doesn’t get you a fmvp

Sonics in the 90s really should have made more finals they were definitely the best team when Jordan left and they choked and Hakeem was unstoppable for two straight years.

*Michael Jordan* 27:16 30:16 31:31 34:37 38:10 39:14 *LeBron James* 58:29 59:28 1:00:10 1:01:14 1:02:54 1:06:59

I watched film on the Unseld MVP, puzzling, unseld set some nice picks. :)

The title of best player in the league since Bill Russell entered the league: Russell Wilt Kareem Moses Bird Magic Jordan Hakeem Shaq Duncan Bron Giannis Jokic

do top 10 playoff performances but not just one game but over the course of a series instead of just a game like you did in the video a couple days ago

‘96 finals MVP? Not MJ? Eye test. Along with his remarkable stats, which is a compliment. He’s SO good that 26ppg on a good FG% and still good defensively. You’re stretching hard on that one. GP was more impactful in that series than Kemp