The CSL

MVP is always a controversial topic among all sports platforms, as the definition of the phrase Most Valuable Player" can be quite subjective depending on who are you speaking with. Personally I have a few certain criteria in my mind that makes a player a true MVP candidate.

1. Is the team success based on the player? Can the player's supporting cast survive if the said player is injured?
2. Is the player a 2 way player that can produce elite numbers on both ends of the floor?
3. Is the player a guy that can single handedly win a game for the team?
4. Is the player's team a strong playoff contender?
5. Is the player durable and healthy throughout the season?

Anyways now that I have got my criteria out of the way, let's get into my MVP rankings for this CSL season!


1. Deandre Ayton, Brooklyn Nets

The paint anchor for a 63 wins team to me is almost a no brainer for this year's MVP award. Ayton is putting up an absurd 27/12/2 stat line while contributing 3.6 blocks per game as well. He has played 81 out of the 82 games available this season, and is no doubt an unstoppable force on both ends of the court. He's also shooting a blistering 58% from the field as well. Ayton is simply balling to another level this season, and I firmly believe he's well deserve for the MVP award. This guy has been healthy and dominate all season long, and to me he's why the Nets are so freaking good this year despite not having a coach for the majority of the season.


2. Michael Porter Jr, Cleveland Cavaliers

After Ayton, things can get a bit controversial as we have quite a few strong candidates this season. The main reason I went with MPJ is because of the amazing turnaround the Cavaliers have experienced this season. This team has went from a lottery treadmill team into a Central Division winner after MPJ's arrival. That is an amazing turnaround by the organization, and MPJ is leading the way by averaging 31.2 ppg, 9.5 rpg while averaging more than a steal and a block per game as well. We knew how good MPJ was when he was on those amazing Kings team, and he's doing it again on a different Cavaliers team. To me MPJ is showing everyone how elite he truly is, and that's why to me he's always among one of the pillars of franchise talents in the CSL today.


3. Zion Williamson, Dallas Mavericks

Honestly I almost put Zion at the number two spot for this article, as Zion is having an incredible season for the division leading Dallas Mavericks team. The only reason I put MPJ above him is because of how drastic of a turnaround the Cavs have experienced after the arrival of MPJ. Anyways Zion is doing Zion things again this season, playing all 82 games while averaging 28.4 ppg, 12.1 rpg, 4.3 apg while averaging 1.5 spg and 2.3 bpg. Zion is been an incredible force on both ends of the court and he's the mainly reason why the Mavs were able to secure the divisional crown in a tough Southwest Division. We have always known how good Zion was offensively, but he turned it up a notch with his defense this season, and should be a candidate for DPOY as well. If we didn't have such a stacked field this season, then Zion could've easily been the top MVP candidate in my opinion.


4. Bruno Fernando, Memphis Grizzlies

This is a post eccentric league, and no wonder most of our top MVP candidates are post players. Anyways Fernando is having an absolutely electric season for a strong Grizzlies team. Fernando was elite on both ends of the court by averaging 23.7 ppg, 13.3 rpg, 2.0 apg, and 3.0 bpg as well. Fernando and Jarret Culver was once again an amazing dynamic duo that led this talented Grizzlies team to another 50 wins season. We have always known how good Fernando is, but he really turned it up a notch this season by averaging career highs all across the board. This 6'10 paint beast is only 26 years old and there's no doubt in my mind he will continue to challenge for future MVP awards. The Grizzlies really did an amazing job unlocking Fernando this season, and I am very excited to see what else can he do in the future!


5. Luka Doncic, New York Knicks

At this point by now we should know we would not have any MVP discussions without mentioning the Slovenian assaisin. The biggest problem for the Knicks and Luka this season was his availability, as Luka was a bit banged up this season compared his past seasons. Luka only played 60 games this year and that contributed a lot to a slightly down season for the talented Knicks team. However when healthy Luka has proved that he's an elite franchise piece for a reason. Luka is averaging a league leading 37.9 ppg to go along with 7.2 rpg, and 8.9 apg. Luka also averaging 1.8 steals per game and was a strong presence on both ends of the court. Luka has taken a lot less 3s this season, and focused much more in his paint offense, and it seemed to have worked as he shot 46% from the field, and a blistering 51% from the 3pt line with much less volume. Hopefully Luka can stay healthy next season, as he's always such a joy to watch. When Luka is on, I would argue there's not a single defender in the CSL that can stop this guy.

Great article hardenwithnod, Rizzo did a great job w/ developing Ayton, he's the best player in the league and SGA is probably a top 10 player himself. Great work by Rizzo..

I'd put Matisse Thybulle over Luka but that's just my personal preference.

I agree with the rest.

I'm super sad that Ayton is having such an amazing year now that Bruno absolutely erupted as a legit MVP candidate. Even with my bias I have to admit that Ayton is balling and their record speaks for itself.

Controversially though can we now say that West has caught up or even surpassed East now with talent level? I mean the difference between 1st seed in West and 8th seed is 5 games or so and a .500+ record isn't even a guarantee to make the playoffs. Times are tough for us Western teams as there are no easy games anymore.

Looks about right

Ayton certainly had a great year, and SGA helps a lot. From a talent perspective it's still hard to say it's not Zion. Could go either way imo

What is most surprising to me is that Porter has already played for three different teams, given he's the only CSL champion in this list.

Porter certainly carries a significant more of his teams burden than Ayton though the later is having a fantastic season. SGA has every trait you want in a pass first pg and is much more developed than Langford. What do the advanced stats say I wonder? Plus the turnaround. Where's our team of destiny turnaround points LOL

Can't argue with that although I wouldn't have Luka in this conversation. We all know how great he is but he missed games and you just can't be part of any MVP conversation when your team wins 42 games (due to missed games).

It's this time of year I miss Porter too. Real nice having a guy who can go off for 50 on any given night.

Great article! Pretty wild the clear impact MPJ has on his teams as he elevated both Cleveland and Sacramento (especially in the playoffs). Ayton is just a beast though

Voted for Fernando as MVP and MIP

bt wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 1:32 pm Can't argue with that although I wouldn't have Luka in this conversation. We all know how great he is but he missed games and you just can't be part of any MVP conversation when your team wins 42 games (due to missed games).

It's this time of year I miss Porter too. Real nice having a guy who can go off for 50 on any given night.

Thanks for the compliment. 22 missed games for Luka. Won 42. Realistically I would have been 3rd in the East with my moves and coaching if he didn't get injured.

Also, Wesbrick won it as 6th seed in the real NBA. MVP stands for = Most Valuable Player.

Take him away and my team barely competes. Take Ayton off the Nets and they still have SGA. Take Bruno off from Grizzlies and they still have Culver.

Take Zion out from the Mavs and they barely compete. Same with Porter. There's only three superstars. Zion and Luka are still the man with Porter showing his value this year...imo

Andrewu91 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 10:23 pm

bt wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 1:32 pm Can't argue with that although I wouldn't have Luka in this conversation. We all know how great he is but he missed games and you just can't be part of any MVP conversation when your team wins 42 games (due to missed games).

It's this time of year I miss Porter too. Real nice having a guy who can go off for 50 on any given night.

Thanks for the compliment. 22 missed games for Luka. Won 42. Realistically I would have been 3rd in the East with my moves and coaching if he didn't get injured.

Also, Wesbrick won it as 6th seed in the real NBA. MVP stands for = Most Valuable Player.

Take him away and my team barely competes. Take Ayton off the Nets and they still have SGA. Take Bruno off from Grizzlies and they still have Culver.

Take Zion out from the Mavs and they barely compete. Same with Porter. There's only three superstars. Zion and Luka are still the man with Porter showing his value this year...imo

Porter wasnt exactly showing wins for Cleveland until they acquired Kuzma. They were a lottery team before that. So Porter can't quite do it on his own. But not many can.

That's not entirely true. Porter started getting more SHOTS when I traded Simons away and that's when we started winning. I couldn't get all three of them on the floor because Langford is really a pg.

Kuzma seems indeed to be a great #2 option. He proved that for years besides Simmons.
But I probably still will go with Porter as MVP, I think the Cleveland turnaround is mostly on his shoulders.

Very good move by Josh!

Andrewu91 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 10:23 pm

bt wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 1:32 pm Can't argue with that although I wouldn't have Luka in this conversation. We all know how great he is but he missed games and you just can't be part of any MVP conversation when your team wins 42 games (due to missed games).

It's this time of year I miss Porter too. Real nice having a guy who can go off for 50 on any given night.

Thanks for the compliment. 22 missed games for Luka. Won 42. Realistically I would have been 3rd in the East with my moves and coaching if he didn't get injured.

Also, Wesbrick won it as 6th seed in the real NBA. MVP stands for = Most Valuable Player.

Take him away and my team barely competes. Take Ayton off the Nets and they still have SGA. Take Bruno off from Grizzlies and they still have Culver.

Take Zion out from the Mavs and they barely compete. Same with Porter. There's only three superstars. Zion and Luka are still the man with Porter showing his value this year...imo

Had to google this but they did win 47 games and the guy averaged a triple double. Valid point though but it's all personal, I reckon they need to be a top team but others would disagree. Beauty of opinions I guess.

The argument about a team without said player is interesting. Can argue both ways but you can definitely argue both ways.

I'm not a fan of stars like Luka winning MVP because of their individual situation. If that were the case, and we awarded the MVP to the most talented player in the league, they'd just win it every year. Take MPJ for example. I agree that he's had an incredible impact raising the Cavs to a competitive spot. He's impacting winning in a serious manner, individually willing his new team to the 2nd Round of the playoffs(so far). Or take Zion, who's brought his team to 50 wins, averaged 28/12/4 and nearly 4 stocks, and carried his team to the 2nd seed in an incredibly tight Western Conference. That's impacting winning.

In essence I don't think Luka is deserving of the MVP purely because of the situation he is in. It was the GM's decision to make him the only truly impactful player on the team. As a result, the instance Luka went down with injury, the Knicks aren't a competitive team. I'd like to see Luka on a more scalable team, where he isn't relied on to be the 40ppg god he is now every game.

That being said, between Memphis, Dallas, and Cleveland, only one of those teams are below 50 wins, and the MVP award is a regular season award. That might knock MPJ down a peg or 2 for some. For me he personally falls down to just slightly above Doncic, due to team construction. Again, if MPJ had a better team around him where he could showcase his talents better, he would be in a better position to produce scalable winning talent. That's not to deny what he's done on the Cavaliers to this day, but to say that he could be seen as a more worthy recipient of the MVP if his team won more games.

I don't have GM less teams players eligible when voting so I don't have Ayton in this conversation.

Zion MPJ Luka from my view are the leading candidates.

I know I had Ayton and Zion 1 and 2. I can't remember if I had MPJ or Bruno at 3. All really deserving players.

Luka is super talented but he only played 60 games. So he didn't make the ballot for me this year, but he probably would have if he had stayed healthy.

GreenBear wrote: ↑Sun Feb 11, 2024 6:59 pm I know I had Ayton and Zion 1 and 2. I can't remember if I had MPJ or Bruno at 3. All really deserving players.

Luka is super talented but he only played 60 games. So he didn't make the ballot for me this year, but he probably would have if he had stayed healthy.

I wonder how the game will consider this when dds makes their decision.