Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Not Winning in 1972-73 Sits at Top of List

Published on October 26th, 2024 10:45 am EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


There have been some pretty obvious snubs for the NBA's MVP award over the history of the league.

Kobe Bryant not winning in 2005-06. Chris Paul not winning in 2007-08. The list goes on and on.

The biggest snub for the MVP award, however, has to belong to the legendary Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, who put on a sublime performance in 1972-73, only to lose out on MVP to Dave Cowens.

Dave Cowens played for over a decade in the league, playing a decade for the Celtics before finishing out his career with the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Boston Celtics were very good in 1972-3 - in fact, they finished at the top of the league with a record of 68-14.

The Milwaukee Bucks, led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, finished with 60 wins.

-

Cowens would win the MVP award that season, while Abdul-Jabbar finished in second place.

Cowens received 67 first-place ballots and a total of 444 points, while Abdul-Jabbar finished in second place with 33 first-place votes and 339 points.

Let's take a look at their numbers from the 1972-73 season:

Dave Cowens:

41.8 minutes played
20.5 points
16.2 rebounds
4.1 assists

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

42.8 minutes played
30.2 points
16.1 rebounds
5.0 assists

Baesd on these numbers, voters thought that Cowens was the much better choice for MVP.

Now, two things likely helped Cowens and hurt Abdul-Jabbar:

1. The Celtics had eight more wins than the Bucks
2. Kareem had just won two MVP awards in a row

It's very hard for a player to win three MVP awards in a row, as we've seen recently. Voters get player fatigue and want to vote for a fresh face. This may have been the case in 1972-73 as well.

In any case, Abdul-Jabbar absolutely deserved to win in 1972-73, and it's not particularly close. He would go on to win the MVP award four more times in his life, including the very next year.