Playing Kobe Altman for a Day: How to re-start the Cleveland Cavaliers

Who’s the most valuable player in the NBA?

By my equation, Nikola Jokic is the most valuable player in the NBA. Definitely not the best player; he is the most valuable because he is crushing at age 22 on a $1.4M salary with a team option for the same salary next year. And even though Steph Curry is an incredible player, his $201M contract at age 29 makes him far less valuable than a 22-year old Giannis Antetokuonmpno, who is making $22.4M on a four-year pact. It’s difficult to measure guys up for big raises, like Isaiah Thomas, so, I’m also not going to include him in our trade scenarios.

Who’s excluded from the list?

Even though each one of these players made the “most valuable NBA player” list, they are not going to be included in trade scenarios for the following reasons: on a rookie-scale contract, just signed an extension, recently traded, over 32 years old, on an expiring contract and due for a huge raise. The players are: Nikola Jokic, Karl Anthony Towns, Isaiah Thomas, Jimmy Butler, Paul George, James Harden, Chris Paul, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Paul Millsap, Otto Porter, John Wall, Gordon Hayward, Paul Millsap, and Kyle Lowry.