If there was any concern of where Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard would find motivation next season after Portland smashed expectations to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals in 2015-16, look no further than ESPN's Summer Forecast for 2016-17 Most Valuable Player projections.
In what the Worldwide Leader calls "the most accurate predictions in the game" where first-place votes equal five points each, a second-place vote is three points and a third-place votes are one point apiece, Lillard recieved just a single third-place vote from ESPN's panel. Leading the way, Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James received 18 first-place votes and 145 total points.