LeBron James named NBA's Best Player over Giannis in survey of scouts, executives

Giannis Antetokounmpo won the NBA's last two MVP awards, but in a poll of league scouts and executives, he wasn't named the league's best player. As per a survey carried out by ESPN, who spoke to eight scouts and executives on who the best player in the NBA is and which team had the best off-season, LeBron James was the unequivocal choice for the best player in the league and received 7 votes out of 8. Meanwhile, Antetokounmpo who won the last two MVP awards received just one vote. 

The popularity of LeBron James amongst the executives and scouts doesn't come as a surprise, especially considering the player's massive impact on the LA Lakers' performances. Giannis Antetokounmpo did not find himself as the executives' first choice. Luka Doncic earned four votes, while Antetokounmpo had to settle for two votes. Damian Lillard and Nikola Jokic received a vote each in the MVP favourites vote. 

The Eastern Conference executive who had the lone vote for Antetokounmpo said his vote would change depending on what exactly the question was referring to."If we're talking about the best player over the course of a season, I'm not picking LeBron. If we are talking about in the playoffs, it's probably LeBron, because he always is."

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Best and worst-performing teams in the offseason?

ESPN's survey shows that LA Lakers were among the executives' top pick for the team that had the best offseason.  The LA Lakers stood out with four votes, while playoff hopefuls Atlanta Hawks got two votes. The OKC Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers earned a vote each. 

On the other hand, in terms of worst offseason, Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets received three votes each, while the Milwaukee Bucks got two votes. The survey further suggests that Houston Rockets will end up keeping James Harden this offseason. 

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NBA all-time leading scorer

LeBron James who according to the survey is regarded as the NBA best player is currently the leading scorer at 34,241 among active players, while Carmelo Anthony with 26,446 is second on the list. The third place is occupied by Kevin Durant 22,923. In overalls, LeBron James sits third while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 38,387 is the NBA all-time leading scorer with Karl Malone in the 2nd place at 36,928. 

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Image credits: LA Lakers Twitter