National Basketball Association

LeBron named 'player you secretly wish was on your team'

Published Jul. 22, 2015 10:30 a.m. ET

foxsports

LeBron James is the best basketball player on the planet, which makes the fact that he was named the “player you secretly wish was on your team” at the inaugural Players’ Awards pretty much a no-brainer and not the least bit shocking.

The newfangled awards ceremony, put on by the NBPA with voting conducted by the players themselves, was a star-studded, red carpet gala held on Sunday night in Las Vegas and aired Tuesday night on BET.

James, along with several other big-time NBA stars, didn’t attend the ceremonies, so Mo’ne Davis, who rose to stardom courtesy of her brilliant performance in the Little League World Series, accepted the award on his behalf.

Other superstars who picked up hardware were James Harden, who was voted by the players as most valuable player after losing the more traditional MVP award to Stephen Curry.

The Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan was voted by his NBA peers to be the league’s top defender after the Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard previously was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

Per a report from Northeast Ohio Media Group’s Joe Varndon, some of the other nontraditional categories and respective winners at the gala were as follows: “Oscar Robertson visionary award (Clippers’ Chris Paul); man of the year (Ray Allen); global impact player (to be announced); best home-court advantage (Golden State’s Oracle Arena); clutch performer (Curry, of the Warriors); game changer award (Allen Iverson); and hardest to guard (Curry).”

Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was named the “coach you most want to play for” after Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer won NBA Coach of the Year.

Players and union executive director Michele Roberts lauded the Players’ Awards as an opportunity for those who actually play the game to show their appreciation for the basketball-playing colleagues. And now we know that LeBron’s peers would like him to be on their team. Mind-blowing.

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