PHOENIX -- Steve Nash will win his second straight NBA Most Valuable Player award, according to reports on several area newspapers.
The announcement may not come for two weeks, according to the Arizona Republic. But the paper, and others, report that the voting shows Nash edging LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Chauncey Billups and Kobe Bryant for the MVP.
The Phoenix Suns playmaker would become the 10th player to win
the award in consecutive seasons.
"Anytime you sit back and think about just winning it once,
it's mind-boggling -- the company and what it means in the history
of the game," Nash said after Wednesday's shootaround. "To win it
twice obviously just compounds that. It's just an incredible honor.
I think it's a tribute to what this game allows people to do if
they work hard."
Nash, 32, won his first MVP award last season when he edged Shaquille O'Neal in what was the fourth-closest balloting in history.
This season, Nash had career-highs in points (18.8 points per game), rebounds (4.2 per game), field goal percentage (51.2 percent) and free throw percentage (92.1 percent -- best in the league). He was also the league-leader in assists (10.5) and shot nearly 50 percent from three-point range.
"He had another great year," Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said
prior to Wednesday night's playoff game against the Los Angeles
Lakers. "The guy's playing at an unbelievably high level. To be in
the running for two years in a row is an incredible honor. To win
it two years in a row is unbelievable."
The NBA declined to comment on the reports.
The Suns are currently playing the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.