1) Paul Arizin (’55-’56)

Arizin is an appropriate start to this list, as one of the most overlooked superstars in league history. The championship he won with the Warriors in 1956 often gets swept under the NBA history rug, wedged awkwardly in between the reigns of the George Mikan Lakers and the Bill Russell Celtics. After defeating the defending champion Nationals in the Conference Finals, Arizin’s Warriors dispatched the Pistons in the NBA Finals. Arizin was masterful in that series, out-dueling Pistons star George Yardley and would have won Finals MVP if it existed before 1969. It was the second major award that Arizin just missed out on that year, as he also finished second in MVP voting behind Bob Pettit. It was the first year that the NBA handed out the award to the league’s most valuable player, and Arizin almost surely would have won one earlier in the ’50s if given the chance. He finished third in voting in ’56-’57, behind Pettit and Bob Cousy, and in fifth in ’58-’59. Arizin did at least win an All-Star MVP award in 1952. 

2) Dolph Schayes (’57-’58)

Schayes just ekes out Paul Arizin as the best player of the ’50s without an MVP award to show for it, and he also suffered from some of his best years coming before the trophy was introduced in 1956. After finishing fifth in voting in both ’55-’56 and ’56-’57, Schayes had his best statistical season in ’57-’58, with 24.9 points 14.2 rebounds per game. He also led the league in minutes played and free throw percentage but came in just behind Bill Russell in MVP voting, finishing second. The Nationals star would finish in the top 10 in voting three more times but never as high as second again. 

3) Elgin Baylor (’62-’63)

In a six year stretch starting in his rookie season, ’58-’59, and ending with his last full season before his knee injury, ’63-’64, Baylor finished third, fifth, third, fourth, second, and sixth in MVP voting. Such is the occupational hazard of playing in the same era as Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, and Wilt Chamberlain. Though his best finish was second place in ’62-’63, behind Russell, the closest Baylor came to winning MVP was arguably ’60-’61 when he finished third. It was a wide-open race that year with 10 players receiving first place votes, and Baylor’s 34.8 points and 19.8 rebounds per game were as impressive as anybody else’s statistical output besides Chamberlain. But the legendary Russell took home the trophy that year, followed by Bob Pettit, then Baylor. He finished in the top five again in ’67-’68 and ’68-’69, but the MVP trophy, like an NBA title, would remain tantalizingly elusive to him.

4) Jerry West (’65-’66, ’69-’70, ’70-’71, ’71-’72)

He just beats out longtime teammate Elgin Baylor for the distinction of greatest player on our list never to win MVP, so it’s only appropriate that West finished in second place so many times. He was 1st-Team All-NBA 10 times, All-Star MVP in 1972, and won the inaugural Finals MVP award (in a losing effort) in 1969, but West never broke through to take home the big regular season award. He finished just behind Wilt Chamberlain in voting in ’65-’66, then was just barely edged out for the award by Willis Reed in ’69-’70, in what was then the closest vote in league history. West wound up finishing in second place for three straight seasons, additionally coming in behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in ’70-’71 and ’71-’72.

5) Nate Thurmond (’66-’67)

While Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell were seemingly hoarding all the accolades of the ’60s, Thurmond was quietly plugging away for the Warriors as the third best center of the decade. After starting his career as Chamberlain’s backup, Thurmond was The Stilt’s biggest rival for MVP honors in ’66-’67, finishing second in voting after averaging 18.7 points and 21.3 rebounds per game while garnering a reputation as the league’s best defensive player (there was no Defensive Player of the Year award back then). He continued to compile impressive stats over the next few seasons, but struggled with injuries and never finished higher than eighth in voting again.

6) Lenny Wilkens (’67-’68)

One year after Wilt Chamberlain foiled Nate Thurmond’s one solid attempt at MVP glory, he also thwarted the best and only chance for Wilkens. Being overshadowed was nothing new for the Hawks star, who was also never on the All-NBA team as his entire prime coincided with that of rival point guards Jerry West and Oscar Robertson. Wilkens averaged just 20.0 points and 8.3 assists per game when he finished second in MVP voting in ’67-’68 but he was receiving credit for carrying St. Louis to a surprise top seed in the West (they would soon after get upset by the Warriors in the Conference Semifinals). It would turn out to be Wilkens’ final season with the Hawks and the only time he’d finish even in the top 10 in MVP voting in his career, let alone as high as second.

7) George Gervin (’77-’78, ’78-’79)

In a season in which he earned his first of four scoring titles and led the Spurs, just one year removed from merging from the ABA, to a surprise 52 wins, Gervin still finished second in MVP voting to a guy who missed 22 games with a knee injury. That man was Bill Walton, who was certainly putting on an MVP performance until late February when he broke his foot and sat out the season’s final five weeks. There were likely a few factors at work in the final result, from the continuing perception of the NBA media that the ABA was lesser to Walton’s bigger exposure on national TV (the Spurs were a surprise contender and thus Gervin’s efforts went largely unnoticed) to the general consensus that Walton was robbed of the award in ’76-’77 and amends were being made. Gervin finished second again in ’78-’79, this time behind fellow ABA alum Moses Malone, then third in ’79-’80 behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving.

8) Bernard King (’83-’84)

King’s ’84-’85 campaign is his signature achievement, winning the scoring title with 32.9 points per game and capturing the imagination of fans, especially in New York. But it was actually the year prior when he came closest to being named MVP. Only six players won MVP between 1979 and 1992, and all of them are amongst the 20 greatest players of all time: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. King came as close as anyone to crashing that exclusive club, finishing second behind Bird in ’83-’84. It was a wide open voting season, with Abdul-Jabbar, Malone, and Erving aging fast, while Johnson had an off year and Jordan was not yet in the league. Guys like Jeff Ruland, World B. Free, and Rickey Green received votes, with Bird ultimately edging out King for the prize. It was the first of three consecutive MVP awards for Bird, while King finished seventh in ’84-’85, then never again in the top 10 as injuries marred the remainder of his career.

“[Alonzo] Mourning was the odds-on favorite to be named MVP. But right after he and Miami were stunned in a first round playoff upset by the Knicks, Mourning was further insulted by losing out on MVP to a 35-year-old Karl Malone in one of the tightest voting results ever.”

9) Dominique Wilkins (’85-’86)

We’ll take a moment here to note that it’s probably not a coincidence that so many players on this list overlap with the list of greatest players never to win an NBA title or reach the NBA Finals. That group includes Bernard King, George Gervin, Chris Paul, Lenny Wilkens, Elgin Baylor, and Wilkins, who never even made it out of the postseason second round. He came much closer to winning MVP than he did to winning a title, but his ultimate foil in both cases was Larry Bird. Wilkins led the NBA in scoring in ’85-’86 with 30.3 points per game but that season absolutely belonged to Bird, who garnered 73 out of 78 first place votes (Wilkins was granted the other five) after leading the Celtics to a historic finish. The Hawks fittingly lost to the Celtics in the playoffs that year, as they had previously in 1983 and would again in 1988. Wilkins finished in the top five in voting two more times, in ’86-’87 and ’92-’93. Along with King and Gervin, he’s also part of a 12-year stretch where the NBA scoring champ didn’t win MVP.

10) Clyde Drexler (’91-’92)

The ’91-’92 season was easily the best of Drexler’s career, but of course, as always, all of it was overshadowed by Michael Jordan. Drexler finished fourth in scoring with 25.0 points per game (Jordan finished first), led the Blazers to the NBA Finals (where they lost to Jordan’s Bulls), and was named to the U.S. Olympic Dream Team (where he backed up Jordan on the depth chart). You can probably guess that all of this is leading to Drexler finishing second in MVP voting that season behind Jordan, who won for the third time. Drexler did receive 12 first place votes (Jordan got 80) and for the first and only time in his career was named 1st-Team All-NBA. It would turn out to be the peak of his career, as due in part to hamstring issues but also largely to psychological damage inflicted by Jordan, Drexler was never the same player for the rest of his career.

11) Alonzo Mourning (’98-’99)

Most people would rather forget the lockout-shortened ’98-’99 NBA season, but Mourning certainly isn’t counted amongst them. The freakishly athletic center had a career year, thriving in Pat Riley’s knock-down-drag-out system in Miami. He finished with 20.1 points and 11.0 rebounds per game and led the league with 3.9 blocks per game, an average that has not been matched in the 20+ years since. With the Heat clinching the #1 seed for the first time in franchise history, Mourning was the odds-on favorite to be named MVP. But right after he and Miami were stunned in a first round playoff upset by the Knicks, Mourning was further insulted by losing out on MVP to a 35-year-old Karl Malone in one of the tightest voting results ever (Tim Duncan was also quite close in third place). Mourning had to settle for winning his first of two consecutive Defensive Player of the Year trophies. He was a legitimate MVP candidate again in ’99-’00, but finished in third behind Shaquille O’Neal (who also notably edged out Mourning for Rookie of the Year in ’92-’93) and Kevin Garnett.

12) Jason Kidd (’01-’02)

There was a short time in the early ’00s when it could be argued that Kidd was the league’s best player. He carried the Nets almost single-handedly to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003 after the team had lost 50+ games in its two previous seasons. Kidd had previously finished fifth in MVP voting in ’98-’99 while a member of the Suns, then came quite close to beating out Tim Duncan for the award in ’01-’02. Duncan received 57 first place votes to Kidd’s 45, winning his first of two straight MVP awards. The ’01-’02 season was arguably Kidd’s greatest but was ultimately a down year for him statistically, finishing with 14.7 points and 9.9 assists per game. Voters may have also been influenced by Kidd’s domestic abuse arrest that made news in January of 2001. He finished in the top 10 in MVP voting five times, but ultimately the only individual trophy Kidd ever received was his Rookie of the Year award.

13) Chris Paul (’07-’08)

Considered by many to be an evolutionary successor to Isiah Thomas, Paul joined his legendary counterpart in never winning MVP. But unlike Thomas, who never finished higher than fifth in voting, Paul came extremely close to the ultimate prize in ’07-’08. He finished second behind Kobe Bryant, with just 28 first place votes compared to Bryant’s 82, but with an impressive 71% of the total voting share (compared to Bryant’s 87%). It was only Paul’s third season in the league and he became just the third player of the last 40 years to lead the NBA in assists and steals, joining Magic Johnson and John Stockton. Paul repeated that statistical feat again in ’08-’09 while averaging a career-high 22.8 points per game, but finished just fifth in MVP voting. He then finished in the top seven in voting for five straight seasons starting in ’11-’12, but Paul’s MVP contention days are obviously behind him now and he’s ensconced on this list forever.

14) Dwight Howard (’10-’11)

It’s a little strange in retrospect that Howard shows up on this list specifically for the ’10-’11 season. Though he averaged a career-high 22.9 points per game, it was the one time in a six-year stretch that he didn’t lead the NBA in rebounding and it was also the beginning of the end of his time as a superstar in Orlando. The Magic made several big roster moves early in that season, trading away Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, and more in a major roster shakeup. Despite the bold transactions they slipped from back-to-back seasons with 59 wins and reaching at least the Conference Finals to just 52 wins and a first round playoff exit. Though it certainly wasn’t Howard’s peak statistically or as a team leader, he was terrific as usual and won his third straight Defensive Player of the Year award. He eked out LeBron James for second in MVP voting, behind Derrick Rose. It was Howard’s fourth straight season finishing in the top five, but he would never repeat that feat again.

15) Kawhi Leonard (’15-’16)

There are 15 players in NBA history who have won Finals MVP but never league MVP and only two of them, Jerry West and Leonard, finished as high as second in voting. Leonard is also now the only player with multiple Finals MVP awards but never a league MVP. In the season of his first Finals MVP, ’13-’14 with the Spurs, he wasn’t even an All-Star, let alone receiving any MVP votes. In his second Finals MVP season, ’18-’19 with the Raptors, he finished ninth in MVP voting. In addition to finishing second in ’15-’16, far behind Stephen Curry, who received every single first place vote, Leonard was also third in ’16-’17 MVP voting, garnering a handful of first place votes but coming in behind Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Unlike all the other players on this list, the 29-year-old Leonard still has a solid chance at removing himself from it, having finished fifth in ’19-’20 and showing no signs of slipping.