When it comes to his two-plus decades covering the NBA, Brian Windhorst doesn’t have many regrets.
But during Thursday’s episode of First Take, the ESPN senior NBA writer shared one of them.
During a discussion regarding the Los Angeles Lakers’ recent resurgence, Windhorst was asked whether this has been the most impressive season of LeBron James’ career. And in answering, the Akron, Ohio native expressed remorse over not awarding James with his MVP vote in 2018.
“I just wanna say I have a few regrets, OK? One of my regrets is in 2017-2018, which was the last year LeBron played in Cleveland, that I didn’t vote for LeBron for MVP,” Windhorst said. “I just gave [James] Harden all those flowers. Harden won the MVP that year and I voted for him for MVP and I do regret that vote. Because the longer I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized how great LeBron was in this season.”
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst says that he regrets voting for James Harden over LeBron James for MVP in 2018.
“The longer I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized how great LeBron was in this season.” pic.twitter.com/5Rs9QuFPH7
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 6, 2025
Windhorst proceeded to recall how James — then 33-years-old and in his 15th season in the NBA — carried the Cavs to the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference after Kyrie Irving demanded a trade that ultimately landed him with the Boston Celtics. Appearing in all 82 games during the regular season, the 4-time NBA champion averaged 27.5 points, 9.1 assists and 8.6 rebounds while leading the league with 36.9 minutes per game.
James’ 2017-18 campaign, however, is best remembered for his performance in the playoffs, as he led an undermanned Cavs team to a fourth consecutive NBA Finals appearance. Despite playing alongside his weakest supporting cast during his second stint in Cleveland, the 4-time MVP averaged 34 points, 9.1 rebounds and 9 assists, hitting multiple buzzer-beaters and leading his team to a win over the Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals on the road.
In Windhorst’s defense, it’s worth noting that NBA awards are voted on before the start of the postseason. And there were also some warts on James’ 2017-18 campaign, including a perceived lack of effort — especially on the defensive side of the floor — before the Cavs’ overhauled their roster at the NBA trade deadline.
But as the cliché goes, hindsight is 20/20 and seven years later, Harden winning the 2018 NBA MVP over James (who finished second in voting) hasn’t aged particularly well. Brian Windhorst, to his credit, is willing to take ownership of what he views as a mistake, even if it will likely be viewed as too little, too late for James.
“That season, I have an incredible amount of respect for,” Windhorst said. “And I’m not even necessarily arguing it’s just the best ever — it’s underrated. So since this window was opened, I wanted just to shine a little light on that.”