MIAMI – Miami Heat forward LeBron James was named the National Basketball Association’s Most Valuable Player for the 2012-13 season on Sunday.
Reuters James received 120 first-place votes from the panel of 121 sports writers and broadcasters selected to choose the award.
Oklahoma’s Kevin Durant finished second overall and the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, who received the other first-place vote, placed third.
It was the fourth time in five years that the 28-year-old James had won the game’s most prestigious individual award, elevating him among the sport’s greatest players. “When people ask me, I tell them I just try to be the best player on the court every night I step on the floor,” James said.
Only four other players — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain — have won the trophy at least four times.
Abdul-Jabbar holds the record for six MVP wins, one ahead of Jordan and Russell and two in front of Chamberlain and now James.
James, who twice won the award with the Cleveland Cavaliers before moving to Miami, averaged 26,8 points, 8,0 rebounds and 7,3 assists during the 2012-13 regular season, where the Heat finished with the best record in the NBA.
