NBA peers vote Rockets’ Harden MVP

Field Level Media: James Harden’s NBA peers voted the Houston Rockets guard MVP for the second time, the National Basketball Players Association announced.

Harden also received the honour during the NBPA’s inaugural awards in 2015.

He is one of three finalists for the league’s MVP award, along with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James and New Orleans Pelicans’ Anthony Davis.

Harden, 28, averaged a career-high and league-leading 30.4 points per game in the regular season. He also contributed 8.8 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game while leading Houston to the league’s best record.

In the playoffs, the Rockets fell to the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. Harden had 32 points in the decisive loss and averaged 28.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists in 17 postseason games overall.

The NBPA also named James it’s first-ever “People’s Champ Award” recipient, an honour recognizing the player to best utilize his platform to make positive contributions to society.