NBA MVP 2021-22: Who Will It Be?

Who will be deemed the best player of the 2021-22 NBA season? ESPN recently ran a straw poll among 100 media members to get their take on the race for MVP. And interestingly, the top seven players in the voting — Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant, Jayson Tatum, Luka Doncic, and Devin Booker — are all under the age of 29, and three of them are under 25. In contrast, the next five players in the poll have been NBA standard-bearers for years. Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and DeMar DeRozan are all in their 30s. There may be no more concrete statistic to illustrate that the sport’s top flight is moving toward a changing of the guard. LZ and Will pick their own MVPs, and discuss the profiles of the young guys who are starting to take over — including who could be the next face of the NBA.