For James Harden’s birthday, I noted that he will soon have 6x 1st team All-NBAs and 5x Top 3 finishes in MVP balloting, which led me to think - who is clearly higher up in these awards than Harden (who is only 31)? Well, I did a shitload of work, and I have a crumpled piece of paper in my pocket and I will lose it within 24 hours, so I am recording my work here.
For this item, I will reduce my criteria down to just squeaking ahead of Harden on All-NBA/ABA and tying him on Top 3 MVP. So 7&5 at least:
14) Shaq - 8x 1st team, 5x Top 3
13) Oscar - 9&5
Tie for 10th) Pettit - 10&5 West-10 & 5 Duncan-10 & 5
Tie for 8th) Karl Malone- 11&5 Kobe- 11&5
These 14-8th place guys (7 guys) have the edge on Harden thus far by virtue of more All-NBA 1st team awards He has caught them, however, in Top 3 MVPs. As we can see, being Top 3 in MVP 5 times is a huge ask It just doesn't happen much (Bob Pettit was top 6 MVP 9 of the 11 years he played and Top 4 in 8 of those years, but he was only 5x Top 3).
(I should stop here and note that there are guys who exceed Harden in one category but who are behind him in another. Cousy is 10&2, Rick Barry is 9&1, Baylor is 10&4. In probably the weirdest NBA stat in this area, Bill Russell finished Top 3 in MVP 9x, but he played in the same era as Wilt, so he had only 3 1st team All-NBA awards - 3&9).
So, in addition to the 14-8th place guys above who are cumulatively better than Harden and at least equal in both award categories, we have 7 who eclipse him in both
7) Wilt - Wilt has 7 1st teams and 7 Top 3 finishes. Wilt also has 4 MVPs. Total relevant awards - 14.
6) Doc - 9&7. You have to count ABA, but if you do he has 16 relevant awards, also 4 MVPs
5) Larry Bird - 9&8 - 17 total relevant awards 3 MVPs
4) Magic Johnson - 9&9 - 18 total relevant awards 3 MVPs
3) Kareem 10&9 - 19 total relevant awards, 6 MVPs
2) Michael Jordan - 10&10 - 20 relevant awards, 5 MVPs
1) LeBron James - I am going to assume he gets 2 in COVID-world, so 13x 1st team All-NBA, 11x Top 3 MVP. 24 total relevant awards, 4 MVPs
You’d think that LBJ could put up 1-4 more awards and end at 25-28 such awards if he got to 28, he’d have double Wilt and double Oscar That is a crazy accomplishment.
Steph Curry? 3&2 Kevin Durant? 6&4 These players are each slightly older than Harden. He has surpassed their awards performance in these categories, and they now need to catch him in these categories.
