This year's Most Valuable Player Award race started at last season's Larry O'Brien Trophy presentation.
That's when LeBron James, while cradling the Bill Russell Trophy for winning NBA Finals MVP, declared: "I want my damn respect too" after the Los Angeles Lakers took the championship.
It was at the end of a pointed victory speech where James called for respect, reasonably, for coach Frank Vogel and general manager Rob Pelinka, both of whom were not recognized in awards voting. James himself had finished a distant second to Giannis Antetokounmpo for MVP.