Larry Bird finished ahead of Magic Johnson in MVP voting the first 7 years of their careers(and 8 of the first 9)

[Street Knowledge]

And 8 of the first 9. In fact he straight up destroyed him in mvp shares and won 67% of the mvp votes during the 1980’s decade

Between 1980-1989, Larry Bird Received 67 Percent Of MVP Votes | Oldskoolbball

Between 1980 and 1989, Larry Legend could've won the NBA MVP almost every year. . In the nine-year stretch, three astonishing stat line indicates that 1-he

oldskoolbball.com

Why did this happen? Was the perception at the time that bird was better than magic until he got hurt in 89? Was this a case of?

Or were people late to the party that the Lakers were Magic’s team and not Kareem?

 

[David_TheMan]

Bird was amazing and it's arguably a toss up who deserves it. Bird got the MVPs, magic got the rings.

 

[In The Zone '98]

A little bit of racial bias mixed a little bit of greatness

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

It's a simple answer. Kareem. And no it wasn't "Magic's team" right away. They had two all-time greats. Kareem was still great when Magic got there so unfortunately that hurts Magic's MVP case.

 

[Rekkapryde]

It's a simple answer. Kareem. And no it wasn't "Magic's team" right away. They had two all-time greats. Kareem was still great when Magic got there so unfortunately that hurts Magic's MVP case.

This

Earv also extended Cap's career. Mutual greatness

 

[KidJSoul]

Kareem was still great early on. So it hurt Magic's MVP cases.

And bird was the better all-around player. Better scorer, and defender

Also the east was MUCH better than the west in the 80s so it was more impressive.

 

[mastermind]

I think it was down to Kareem being great into his mid 30s.

He was fifth in MVP voting in 85-86, for instance at 38.

Still an amazing stat for Bird.

 

[Black White Sox Hat]

2K made sure that sh!t didn't happen again in the Bird/Magic era MyNBA mode.Magic literally wins that sh!t every year in the 80's.

 

[viktordoomsecretwars]

Magic was (wrongly) viewed as a game manager in the 1st half of his career.

He wasn't really interested in scoring the basketball. He started to score more in the 2nd half of his career when Kareem declined.

Magic was just incredibly unselfish and that matters for superficial, silly awards like NBA MVP.

But then they started to give Magic the MVP's he deserved later on in his career but at that point, Jordan had arrived and surpassed them all. So the one who really paid for it was Jordan.

 

[firemanBk]

Honestly I think it was cause he wasn't much of a scorer.
He only averaged over 20ppg for 3 healthy seasons and won MVP in all of those years
Not saying it was right but it definitely effected his votes

Magic was (wrongly) viewed as a game manager in the 1st half of his career. But he wasn't. He wasn't really interested in scoring the basketball. He was incredibly unselfish and that matters for superficial, silly awards like NBA MVP

Lol he still won it 3x though and had 6 other top 3 finishes

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

It’s because early in Magic’s career he wasn’t LA’s best player and Kareem was still a viable MVP contender into the 80’s while the lakers were very much his team in the locker room too and voter fatigue for a lakers player likely played a role. In fact Kareem won the award in Magic’s rookie year and should’ve been mvp of the finals. The lakers really became Magic’s team around 1986 when he kicked off his first MVP season.



Boston on the other hand didn’t really have another player who was arguably the Celtics best player or leader. Bird from the start routinely led the Celtics in scoring by a decent to large margin while also leading the team in steals, frequently leading them in rebounds, and would regularly lead the team in assists or finish near the team lead.

His being a white guy in Boston and from the Midwest definitely got him some votes too though.

 

[MJ Truth]

Bird was better than Magic individually if we want to be completely honest.

 

[Everythingg]

It's a simple answer. Kareem. And no it wasn't "Magic's team" right away. They had two all-time greats. Kareem was still great when Magic got there so unfortunately that hurts Magic's MVP case.

Kareem was the KD to Magic’s Curry. Sure KD was the better player but Curry was the leader. Kareem was never a leader just a great scorer/player…

 

[Boonapalist]

Bird was older than Magic so he reached his prime and peak before Magic did. Magic played with Kareem and was very deferential to him. And there probably was some racial bias and bias about how the game should be played. The Lakers were looked at as West Coast Hollywood all flash no substance. While the Celtics were Eastern blue collar fundamentally sound.

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Bird was older than Magic so he reached his prime and peak before Magic did. Magic played with Kareem and was very deferential to him. And there probably was some racial bias and bias about how the game should be played. The Lakers were looked at as West Coast Hollywood all flash no substance. While the Celtics were Eastern blue collar fundamentally sound.

Bird played with flash too.