How Many MVP Awards Can Lebron James Win?

LeBron James wins MVP award number four. Photo Credit SI.com

Officially, 120 of 121 NBA voters have decided that Lebron James was the MVP for the 2012-13 NBA season. This makes his fourth time winning in only five seasons, putting him in very elite company. How many MVP awards could LeBron James win?

LeBron is now the youngest NBA player to win four MVP awards at only 28-years old. Carmelo Anthony was the only other player to get a first place vote preventing the unanimous decision. 

"It's probably a writer out of New York that didn't give me the vote...I get it", said James during his award ceremony.

There are only four other players with four MVP awards in league history:

• Kareem Abdoul-Jabbar 6
• Michael Jordan 5
• Bill Russell 5
• Wilt Chamberlain 4

You could easily make the argument that Kareem's, Russell's, and Chamberlain's were the hardest to win since all three centers dominated the NBA at the same time beating each other. You could argue that Michael Jordan had the tougher road because there was a league bias towards him winning all the awards every year.

What this fourth MVP does is confirm what we already know, LeBron James is a very special player. This year his focus was not to win this award, but to win the Defensive Player of the Year award instead. 

"I tried harder to win defensive player of the year than I did MVP. That's my goal...we'll try again next year."

If not trying gets you 26.8 points, 8 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game, then what would trying look like?

Watching James this season, following his first NBA championship, proves to me that he will be historical referenced by having the most MVP awards in history. He plays now with the calm of a champion, not with the frantic nature of someone under immense pressure to deliver. Karl Malone was the oldest player to win the award at age 36. Michael Jordan won his last league MVP at age 35. LeBron James has enough time to surpass everyone.

Follow Rodney Fisher on twitter @RodneyRFisher