The NBA’s reigning MVP believes players — not the media — should vote on the NBA’s awards.
Durant, in New York City before his sixth straight All-Star Game, joined a number of his fellow NBA players in suggesting that it should be their voices that are heard when it comes to awards voting.
The current system — has a panel of writers and broadcasters votes for the end-of-season awards and All-NBA Teams — while a fan vote handles the All-Star starters and a vote of the coaches takes care of the All-Star reserves.
“I think media gets too much power to vote on stuff, quite frankly, that you don’t know a lot about, as much as we [players] know about it,” Durant said at All-Star media availability on Friday. “We play against these guys every single night, we battle against these guys, we know what they say on the court, we know how they handle their teammates, we know how they approach the game. Our vote should count. Our opinions should count. I don’t think you guys know as much as we do and I don’t know why you have more power than we do.”
NBA players used to vote for the MVP award until 1980-81, when the current system that asks the media to submit five names, ranked in order, was adopted.
