The case is straightforward. From 1986-87 through 1997-98, Michael Jordan was either the best player in the league or in the conversation for it every single season he was on the floor. He led the league in scoring 10 times, including seven straight from 1986-87 to 1992-93. He won six championships in six Finals appearances. He won six Finals MVPs. He was a 10-time All-NBA First Team selection. And in every year of his prime that he didn't actually win the regular season MVP, he either finished second or third in the voting.

This is the story of five seasons where Jordan had a legitimate case, sometimes a dominant one, to be named the league's Most Valuable Player and didn't get it. We're going to break down what he averaged, what the actual winner averaged, how the teams finished, and the reasons (good, bad, and political) that the voters went the other way.

Let's start with the simple part.

First, the MVPs Jordan Actually Won

For the record, here are the five MVP awards Michael Jordan won in his career, spread across a remarkable 11-year window:That's only four tiles, because the layout grid takes pairs. The fifth MVP came in 1997-98, when Jordan averaged 28.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists at age 34, leading the Bulls to a 62-win season and a third straight title. He won that one by a comfortable margin and almost everyone agrees he deserved it.

The 1987-88 award was the first one, and it came with Defensive Player of the Year honors in the same season, making Jordan the only player ever to win both in the same year (until Hakeem Olajuwon and Giannis Antetokounmpo later joined that club). The 1990-91 and 1991-92 awards came alongside his first two championships. The 1995-96 award came with a 72-10 regular season that was the NBA record for 20 years, and he got 109 of 113 first-place votes that year.

He was a deserving winner every single time.

But over that same era, there were a handful of years where he was right there or arguably ahead of the actual winner and lost out anyway. Here are the five that stand out the most.The 1986-87 season is the one Tracy McGrady can't get over. Jordan was 23 years old, in his third NBA season, and he had just come back from a broken foot that limited him to 18 games the year before. What he did on the comeback was historic. He averaged 37.1 points per game, a number that had not been seen since Wilt Chamberlain in 1962-63 and has not been seen since. He played all 82 games. He scored 50 or more points eight times in the regular season. He became only the second player in NBA history to score 3,000 points in a season. Wilt is the other.

And he finished a distant second in MVP voting.

Why Magic Won

The Showtime Lakers went 65-17, the best record in basketball. Magic was the engine, leading the league in assists at 12.2 a night and posting career bests in scoring (23.9) and field goal percentage (52.2%) on a team that featured James Worthy, Byron Scott, A.C. Green, and a 39-year-old but still productive Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Lakers went on to win the championship that June.

Magic had also watched Larry Bird win three MVPs in a row from 1984 to 1986. The voters were ready to shift the narrative back. Magic got 65 of 78 first-place votes. It wasn't close.

And then there was the obvious problem with Jordan's case. The Bulls went 40-42. They finished eighth in the Eastern Conference. They got swept in three games by the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. As Jordan himself later acknowledged, an MVP is, traditionally, the best player on the best team. The 1986-87 Bulls were nowhere close to the best team.

The Case That He Should Have Won

Jordan led the league in scoring by eight points per game. He led in PER at 29.8 (Magic was around 23). He led in win shares. He led in box plus-minus. He led in value over replacement player. He also led the league in steals at 2.9 per game and posted 125 blocks as a 6-foot-6 guard, a number that put him in serious Defensive Player of the Year consideration. By every advanced metric available, Jordan was the most productive player in basketball, and by a wide margin.

And here's the thing the team-record argument always misses. The Bulls in 1985-86 went 21-43 in the 64 games Jordan missed with his broken foot — a pace closer to 27-55 over a full season. With Jordan back and healthy in 1986-87, they jumped to 40-42. That's a huge swing produced almost entirely by one player. The fact that the roster around him was thin (Charles Oakley and a rookie John Paxson were the next-best players) is the argument FOR his MVP candidacy, not against it. Jordan dragging that team to a playoff spot at all was an extraordinary feat.If you ask Michael Jordan to name his best individual NBA season, he doesn't pick a year he won the MVP. He picks 1988-89.

That season Jordan averaged 32.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 8.0 assists per game. The rebounds and assists were career highs. He shot 53.8 percent from the field. He averaged 2.9 steals. He led the league in scoring for the third straight year. He was a First Team All-NBA selection and a First Team All-Defensive selection.

It was, by any reasonable accounting, one of the greatest individual seasons in NBA history. He finished second in MVP voting. Magic Johnson won his second straight.

Why Magic Won

The Lakers won 57 games, eight more than the Bulls. Magic was running an offense that, even without Kareem (who was 41 and basically a role player at that point), was still the most efficient in basketball. He led the league in assists for the third time in his career. The Lakers had won back-to-back titles in 1987 and 1988, and the team-success narrative was working in his favor.

And, just like in 1986-87, the voters seemed to want to keep rewarding Magic. He had become the face of the league alongside Bird. Jordan was still seen as a brilliant but somewhat selfish scorer who couldn't get past the Pistons in the playoffs. The story said Magic was a winner. The voters voted accordingly.

The Case That He Should Have Won

Look at the stat lines one more time. Jordan averaged 10 more points per game than Magic. He had more rebounds. He shot a higher percentage from the field. He had 1.1 more steals per game. He was a First Team All-Defensive selection (Magic was not on any All-Defensive team). He posted a PER of 31.1 (Magic was at 24.7). He led the league in win shares, win shares per 48 minutes, and box plus-minus.

Even the team-success argument breaks down on closer inspection. The Bulls' 47-35 record was achieved with a roster whose next-best scorers were Scottie Pippen (14.4 points per game in his second year) and Horace Grant (12.0 in his second year). The Lakers had Magic plus James Worthy (20.5), Byron Scott (19.6), Mychal Thompson, and a still-effective A.C. Green. Take Jordan off the 1988-89 Bulls and they win 25 games. Take Magic off the 1988-89 Lakers and they're still a playoff team.

Jordan himself has said this season, more than any other, was the one he should have won. In a 1995 interview he criticized the media-only voting system specifically because of this snub.This is the snub that NBA historians point to most often when they say Jordan should have more than five MVPs. In 1989-90, Jordan led the league in scoring at 33.6 points per game. He averaged 6.9 rebounds and 6.3 assists. He shot 52.6 percent from the field. He led the league in steals at 2.8 per game. He played all 82 games. He led the league in PER (31.2, easily the highest in basketball). He led in win shares. He led in win shares per 48 minutes. He led in box plus-minus and value over replacement player.

And he finished third in MVP voting. Behind Charles Barkley. Who finished second to Magic Johnson.

Why Magic Won

The Lakers went 63-19, the best record in basketball, in their first season without Kareem. Magic carried more of the offensive load, posted his usual all-around stat line, and held up the franchise during what could easily have been a rebuilding year. That story carried weight with voters.

The margin was tiny. Magic finished with 636 points to Barkley's 614 to Jordan's 571. Barkley actually got more first-place votes (38) than Magic (27) or Jordan (21). It was one of the closest three-man MVP races in NBA history.

The Case That He Should Have Won

The advanced metrics were not close. Jordan was 8 points ahead of the field in PER. He had the largest win-shares lead since the metric started being tracked. He led the league in scoring by more than five points per game. He led in steals. He was First Team All-Defensive while playing 39 minutes per game.

The team argument almost cuts in his favor here too. The Bulls had won 50 games the year before with Jordan being criticized for not making teammates better. In 1989-90 Chicago jumped to 55 wins, and Pippen and Grant both took meaningful leaps. Jordan was, by then, the most efficient high-volume scorer in NBA history, an elite defender, and a quality playmaker. Magic, by contrast, was on the back half of his peak.

And, as is so often the case with Jordan, the playoffs settled it. The Bulls took the Pistons (who would win the championship) to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Lakers were eliminated in the second round by Phoenix.Charles Barkley won the 1992-93 MVP after his trade from Philadelphia to Phoenix. The Suns went 62-20, the best record in basketball. Barkley averaged 25.6 points, 12.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists. He was magnificent. He also got 59 first-place votes.

Jordan, who was attempting his third straight championship with the Bulls, got 13 first-place votes and finished third behind Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon. He went on to average 41.0 points per game in the NBA Finals (still a Finals series record) as the Bulls beat Barkley's Suns in six. As Jordan put it later in The Last Dance, he saw the MVP voting as a personal insult. "I was a little bit upset that I didn't get the MVP that year and they gave it to Charles Barkley. But with that said, okay fine. You can have that. I'm gonna get this."

Why Barkley Won

The Suns had the best record in basketball, and they had it because Barkley arrived in a blockbuster trade and immediately transformed the franchise. Phoenix had been a 53-win team the year before; with Barkley they jumped to 62 wins and the top seed. Barkley led the league in win shares. He was second in PER behind Hakeem. He was the best player on the best team.

The voters also leaned into the change-of-team story. Barkley had been carrying a flawed Philadelphia franchise for years. He landed in Phoenix and immediately turned them into a contender. Sometimes those big change-of-scenery seasons capture the voter's imagination. This was one of them.

The Case That He Should Have Won

Jordan led the league in scoring for the seventh straight year, a streak that tied Wilt Chamberlain. He led the league in steals at 2.8 per game. He finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. He played 78 games. The Bulls won 57 games, just five fewer than the Suns, in a tougher conference. And he then went on to make Barkley pay personally for the snub by torching his Suns for 41 points per game in the Finals.

This is the one Jordan brings up the most, because he viewed it as the voters punishing him for being on his way to a third straight title. There was a sense, in 1992-93, that the league was tired of voting for him and ready for a new story. Barkley, the lovable, brash, ring-less star getting his moment, was that story.This is the snub a lot of NBA fans bring up first when the conversation starts. After winning his fourth MVP with a 72-10 Bulls team in 1995-96 (he got 109 of 113 first-place votes), Jordan came back the following year and led the Bulls to a 69-13 record. At the time, that was tied for the second-best regular season record in NBA history, behind only his own team from the year before.

Jordan averaged 29.6 points per game (still leading the league in scoring), played all 82 games at age 33, and was once again a First Team All-Defensive selection. The Bulls had the best record in basketball.

The MVP went to Karl Malone. By 29 voting points.

Why Malone Won

Voter fatigue, plain and simple. Even Phil Jackson, the Bulls' head coach, said so at the time. "Michael won it so many times and this may be Malone's opportunity," Jackson told reporters. Malone had been knocking on the door for years, finishing in the top five of MVP voting six times before his win. He had carried Utah into legitimate contender status alongside John Stockton. The Jazz had won 64 games, the most ever for the franchise at that point. And Malone, who was 33 himself, had a story arc that voters wanted to reward before it was too late.

The 29-point margin was the second-closest MVP vote since media balloting began in 1981. Jordan actually received more first-place votes from his strongest supporters, but Malone had a broader base of second and third-place votes.

The Case That He Should Have Won

The Bulls had a better record. The Bulls had the better player. Jordan led the league in scoring. He played all 82 games. He led the league in win shares. He was on a team that was historically dominant for the second year in a row.

And, again, the playoffs settled what the voters got wrong. The Bulls and Jazz met in the Finals. Jordan delivered the famous Flu Game in Game 5, then closed out Utah in Game 6. He averaged 32 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists in the series. Malone shot 44 percent from the field and missed two free throws at the end of Game 1 that probably cost his team the entire series. Jordan walked away with his fifth Finals MVP. Malone walked away with one regular season MVP and zero championships.

So How Many Should He Have Won?

Here's where it gets interesting. Of the five seasons above, the cases break down differently:

1986-87 (vs. Magic): Jordan was statistically the best player in the league by a wide margin, but a 40-42 team record makes this a hard MVP case to win. Strong individual season, weak team result. Defensible loss.

1988-89 (vs. Magic): Jordan's best individual season of his career. 32 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists on 54 percent shooting plus elite defense. The clearest robbery of his career.

1989-90 (vs. Magic): Closest three-man race in modern NBA history. Jordan led every advanced metric, played on a 55-win team that the eventual champion Pistons needed seven games to beat. He was the best player. He finished third.

1992-93 (vs. Barkley): Barkley had the team-success argument. Jordan had the better individual season and the championship. Voter fatigue setting in, with the Finals settling who was actually best.

1996-97 (vs. Malone): Better player, better team record, won the championship and Finals MVP. Voter fatigue won this one outright.

If you spot Jordan the two clearest robberies (1988-89 and 1996-97), that puts him at seven MVPs. That would tie him with what most people consider the LeBron upper bound, and put him one ahead of Kareem.

If you give him the maximum benefit of the doubt and award him all five of the seasons on this list, plus his actual five, that's 10 MVPs. Which would, of course, be more than anyone in NBA history. By a lot.

For the Record: Jordan's MVP Resume

To wrap this up, here is what Michael Jordan officially did in MVP voting during his career:

MVPs won (5): 1987-88, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1995-96, 1997-98

Times finished second (3): 1986-87, 1988-89, 1996-97

Times finished third (2): 1989-90, 1992-93

Tied with: Bill Russell at five MVPs, second-most in NBA history behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's six.

Jordan's career also includes six Finals MVPs (the all-time record), 10 scoring titles (also the all-time record), one Defensive Player of the Year award, and six championships in six Finals trips. Among the players widely considered top-of-the-pyramid all time (Jordan, Kareem, LeBron, Russell), Jordan is the only one whose championship and Finals MVP totals are perfectly aligned. Every Finals he reached, he won. Every Finals he won, he was named MVP.

He has his five trophies. But he also has more than enough receipts to argue, with a straight face, that the actual number should be a lot higher.