The Most Valuable Player Award is given to the player who was able to put up the best regular season. As a result, it is arguably the highest individual award that can highly contribute to any player’s legacy. With the NBA continuing to grow more and more competitive, there is doubt that multiple candidates make their cases to win this elusive award. Unfortunately, only one player will be declared as the MVP.
In a league that is filled with talent, there is no doubt that even current youngsters can make can case to win the award. Although it is quite rare to see rising stars win the award, Derrick Rose did win it in 2011, at only 22 years old, which made him the youngest MVP in NBA history. However, given that this is a rare feat, most players win this award during their primes. For this piece, let’s take a look at young players below 25 years of age that can be a future MVP.
Trae Young
Age: 22
NBA career stats: 24.1 points, 8.8 assists, 3.9 rebounds, 0.9 steals, 0.2 blocks
Trae Young is currently the face of the Hawks’ franchise, and he’s doing a great job at that.For the first time since 2017, the team has is finishing within the Top 10 teams. But more importantly, the Hawks will have a decent chance of making the postseason. As the main facilitator of the Hawks, Young has been fantastic in setting up his teammates and taking over games.
Young has been known to be a knockdown shooter with limited range, and so far, he is maintaining that. However, what makes Young a future MVP is how he learned to expand his game by setting up the offense for his teammates. The one time All-Star is averaging a career high 9.4 dimes per outing. By involving his teammates and providing the scoring punch, Young has finally translated his individual potential to wins. Because of this, he is indeed a MVP in the making.
Donovan Mitchell
Age: 24
NBA career stats: 23.4 points, 4.3 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 0.3 blocks
The Utah Jazz made a lot of noise this season, given that they unexpectedly took the pole position in the Western Conference for quite some time. And there is no question, Donovan Mitchell is the best player of that team. Despite only at a young age of 24, Mitchell has taken the leadership role of this team. In fact, he leads the team in points, averaging a career high 26.4 points per outing.
Although his teammate Rudy Gobert is already a MVP candidate, Mitchell will certainly make his way to the conversation in a year or two. In fact, it is quite surprising that he isn’t in the race to win the award this year. However, if Mitchell can take the Utah Jazz deep into the postseason this year and possibly win a championship, there is no question the two time All-Star will be in the MVP ladder sooner than later.
Devin Booker
Age: 24
NBA career stats: 22.9 points, 4.7 assists, 3.7 rebounds, 0.8 steals, 0.3 blocks
There aren’t a lot of players that can torch opponents the way Devin Booker does. Equipped with his elite scoring, Booker is simply unstoppable one-on-one. The two time All-Star has been huge for Phoenix as of late. From last year’s NBA bubble where he led the team to an undefeated 8-0 run, to this year helping the team take the number one seed in the Western Conference. But more importantly, Booker has helped Phoenix clinch a playoff berth since 2010, which was considered to be the longest playoff drought in league history.
Although a lot of the credit goes to Chris Paul, who is also making waves to win MVP this year, Booker is playing a big role in making the Suns a winning team. The Suns star has been a nightmare for opposing teams, and who can forget the time when he dropped 70 points in a game. It was the highest scoring output since, another MVP, the late Kobe Bryant finished with 81 points in 2006. With Booker finally translating his individual greatness to wins, he will be a MVP Award winner in no time.
Jayson Tatum
Age: 23
NBA career stats: 19.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.2 steals, 0.7 blocks
The Boston Celtics have been a legitimate Eastern Conference contender primarily because of the leadership and scoring tenacity of Jayson Tatum. In fact, just recently, Tatum made history by not only scoring a career high 60 points to tie Larry Bird for the franchise record in scoring, but also, he led the successful historic comeback where he rallied the Celtics to beat the San Antonio Spurs 143-140 in overtime from a 32 point deficit. The comeback is considered to be the biggest since the Sacramento Kings beat the Chicago Bulls in 2009 where the former trailed by 35 points.
His 60 point outburst was surely MVP worthy. Despite battling with the after effects of Covid-19 earlier in the season, Tatum assured everyone that he is destined to be one of the greatest to ever play the game. With Tatum tallying one of the best performances of the season, who knows what more he can do in the near future. At the rate that he is going, winning an MVP Award should be in his future.
Luka Doncic
Age: 22
NBA career stats: 25.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, 7.8 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.4 blocks
Luka Doncic is arguably the best rising star in the league. Despite being only 22 years old, Doncic has showcased his polished all-around game that allows him to rack up triple doubles on any given night. Just recently, the Slovenian hotshot recently made history by becoming the second fastest player to reach 35 triple doubles, with only Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson achieving this feat in lesser games. Doncic accomplished this feat in dominant fashion by registering 31 points, 20 assists, and 12 rebounds. He also became one of only four players to register a 30-20-10 statline alongside Russell Westbrook, Magic Johnson, and Oscar Robertson.
The two time All-Star certainly lived up to the hype after starring in Europe. Doncic already has two All-Star appearances under his belt and took the Mavericks to the postseason last year. But more importantly, he is the only player in this list that is already in this year’s MVP race. Doncic currently sits at fifth place in the Kia MVP Ladder Rankings, making him the youngest candidate among the favorites. If he continues to put up big performances for the Mavericks, we might see another 22 year old hoist the MVP trophy later on this year.
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