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

[Reggie]

Only realized a few years ago that Bird was older then Magic by like 3 years so that meant a lot as far as being physically and mentally ready for the NBA lifestyle. But at the end of the day Magic got the same amount of MVP's as Bird so what's really the discussion here?

 

[DraymondT]

Rookie of Year votin was a wash for Larry too.... 63 points for Larry.... 3 points for Magic. There was 22 teams then so only 1 team voted Magic... We know who that was

There as def strong in accolades and opinions then but most of contemporary feelings then suggest Larry was comfortably seen better than Magic up until mid 80s at least. Some shyt suggest it wasnt even much a debate either. Larry was gettin GOAT convo talk after 86 season and it wasnt just from Boston cacs

 

[murksiderock]

Bird was better than Magic early on. Magic made up ground later...

Their entire careers mirror each other, it's really marginal as to who was the better player. You can go either way...

My pops says both were overrated but he's also a Moncrief and Dr J Stan...

 

[Hey_zeus]

Bird was better than him until he fukked up his back.

 

[Da_Eggman]

Cuz bird was better

 

[TheMailMan]

It's a numbers game. I'm sure playing for Boston helped but bird could ball

 

[rbksNgirbauds]

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.

Jordan?

How you wiggle him into this convos? Bird/Magic, MVPs, 80s, first seven years of THEIR careers

 

[Ziggiy]

Its because he was white.

This ain’t rocket science.


If your a great white hope you’ll get the always get the edge

Word to Isaiah Thomas and Dennis Rodman

 

[Da_Eggman]

It's a numbers game. I'm sure playing for Boston helped but bird could ball

You don’t think playing for the Lakers with all there scorers didn’t help magic have crazy assists numbers

 

[nieman]

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.

I'd say it because Magic's team with that '84-'85 season.

And Bird was better...at least through '88.

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

I'd say it because Magic's team with that '84-'85 season.

And Bird was better...at least through '88.

From what I’ve read, Riley, Magic, and Kareem all agreed to pass the torch/take the torch in between the 1985-86 and 1986-87 season after the loss to Houston.

 

[Whips-n-Chains]

There were the “tragic Johnson” years too.

They both ended w/ 3 anyway

 

[zayk35]

Bird is white.

But Bird was also an assassin out there

 

[Brandon M.]

i would never understand why yall put weight into an award voted by media

 

[feelosofer]

Larry Bird came into the league a more complete player but once the mid-late 80s came around it evened out.