Happily, I've never seen a player upset at not winning an MVP. Shaq got upset that year Fred Hickman kept him from being the only unanimous pick, but that was Shaq.
I remember Bryant at 22, coming off his first title, telling me before the opener in Portland the next fall that he wanted to win the MVP.
It was so wild, I didn't even write it down. Bryant subsequently announced he might have to leave to be all he could be, and engaged in a season-long feud with Shaq.
By the time Kobe finally won an MVP eight years later, he had learned what it's worth in the end: Nothing.
If he wins the next three MVPs and no titles, they'll say he was the most overrated player of all time.
If he wins the next three titles and no MVPs, they'll say he was better than Michael Jordan.
James, who's already 24 and has never come closer than No. 2 in the MVP voting, would like one. (Asked what he thinks about the media deciding, he said, "I love you guys.")
However, as close as he and Wade are, it never comes up. Instead, they're thrilled by each other's exploits, like Wade's in Monday's double-overtime win over Chicago.
"I sent him an e-mail after the game," James said. "Basically, he was playing games with himself.
"He won the game, and then lost the game, and then won the game, then lost it again, then won it again. He tied the game up at the end of regulation to send it into overtime. Then he missed four free throws in overtime, and then he had a wide-open layup that he never misses, that he would have made against us.
"He planned that [ending]. He said, 'Make sure that it's a tie game and Chicago has the ball and I'm going to steal it and hit a running three.' "
It's actually easy. Say your boss offered you a choice of a big shiny trophy for being the most valuable person in the office . . . or your paycheck.
James' joy would give way to dismay as his team fell 18 points behind, raising the awful possibility of blowing a chance to tie the Lakers and take a one-game lead over Boston.
So when LeBron led the Cavaliers back with 10 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter in a True MVP Performance, it had everything to do with winning and nothing to do with the MVP.
Life is earnest, life is real and it better have more important things than some award in it.
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mark.heisler@latimes.com
