I decided to use advanced stats(mostly Thinking Basketball Box plus minus for the earlier seasons because nothing else is available)
1979-1980: We start off with a fairly simple one. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem that season put up 23.4 Points per 75(inflation adjusted, all point totals per 75 cited are inflation adjusted) on nearly +11 rTS% and led the league in BPM at 5.9, pretty comfortably.
1980-1981: Julius Erving
25.5 Points per 75 +3.8 rTS% 5.5 BPM
1981-1982: Magic Johnson
17.4 Points per 75 on +5.2 rTS% 6.0 BPM
1982-1983: Magic Johnson
16.7 Points per 75 +7.2 rTS% 5.7 BPM
1983-1984: Larry Bird barely
23.2 Points per 75 +0.9 rTS% 5.9 BPM
1984-1985: Larry Bird
26.3 Points per 75 +4.2 rTS% 7.0 BPM
1985-1986: Larry Bird
24.8 Points per 75 on +3.9 rTS% 6.9 BPM
1986-1987: Magic Johnson barely
23.7 Points per 75 on +6.4 rTS% 8.1 BPM
1987-1988: Michael Jordan
33.4 Points per 75 +6.5 rTS% 8.4 BPM
1988-1989: Michael Jordan
30.6 Points per 75 +7.7 rTS% 8.5 BPM
1989-1990: Michael Jordan barely
32.6 Points per 75 +6.9 rTS% 7.8 BPM
1990-1991: Michael Jordan
32.7 Points per 75 +7.1 rTS% 9.0 BPM
1991-1992: Michael Jordan
30.1 Points per 75 4.8 rTS% 8.3 BPM
1992-1993: Michael Jordan
32.9 Points per 75 +2.8 rTS% 7.2 BPM
1993-1994: David Robinson
30.5 Points per 75 +4.9 rTS% 8.1 BPM
1994-1995: David Robinson
28.1 Points per 75 +5.9 rTS% 6.5 BPM
1995-1996: Michael Jordan
32.6 Points per 75 +4.0 rTS% 7.6 BPM
1996-1997: Karl Malone barely
30.9 Points per 75 +6.4 rTS% 7.2 BPM
1997-1998: Karl Malone
30.6 Points per 75 +7.3 rTS% 6.2 BPM
1998-1999: Karl Malone barely
28.3 Points per 75 +6.6 rTS% 5.4 BPM
1999-2000: Shaquille O’Neal
30.3 Points per 75 +5.5 rTS% 7.3 BPM
2000-2001: Shaquille O’Neal
30.4 Points per 75 +5.6 rTS% 6.2 BPM
2001-2002: Tim Duncan by the barest of barest of barest of margins
26.5 points per 75 +5.6 rTS% 6.5 BPM
2002-2003: Dirk Nowitzki barely
26.7 points per 75 +6.2 rTS% 6.6 BPM
2003-2004: Kevin Garnett
26.6 Points per 75 on +3.1 rTS% 6.9 BPM 100th percentile DAPM
2004-2005: Dirk Nowitzki by the barest of margins
27.1 Points per 75 on +4.9 rTS% 6.1 BPM
2005-2006: Lebron James by the barest of margins
30.6 Points per 75 on +3.3 rTS% 6.2 BPM
2006-2007: Dirk Nowitzki barely.
28.2 Points per 75 on +6.4 rTS% 5.9 BPM
2007-2008: Christ Paul
23 points per 75 on +3.6 rTS% 7.2 BPM
2008-2009: Lebron James by a small margin.
31.1 points per 75 on +4.7 rTS% 8.4 BPM
2009-2010: Lebron James by a massive margin
30.7 Points per 75 on +6.1 rTS% 8.6 BPM
2010-2011: Lebron James by a decent margin
28 points per 75 on +5.3 rTS% 6.9 BPM
2011-2012: Lebron James by a decent margin
30 points per 75 on +7.8 rTS% 7.2 BPM
2012-2013: Lebron James by a decent margin.
29.2 Points per 75 on +10.2 rTS% 8.8 BPM
2013-2014: Kevin Durant by a small margin.
31.0 Points per 75 on +9.2 rTS% 7.3 BPM
2014-2015: Steph Curry by a small margin, but not that small
26.2 Points per 75 on +10.3 rTS% 7.5 BPM
2015-2016: Steph Curry easily.
31.3 Points per 75 on a stunning +12.8 rTS%. 8.8 BPM
2016-2017: Kevin Durant wins by the barest of all margins.
26.9 Points per 75 on +10.2 rTS% 7.9 BPM compared to Harden’s 28.8 Points per 75 on +6.8 rTS% with a 7.8 BPM.
2017-2018: James Harden wins in a landslide.
32.3 Points per 75 on +7.1 rTS% 8.7 BPM
2018-2019: James Harden wins barely.
36.6 Points per 75 on +6.2 rTS% 8.3 BPM
2019-2020: James Harden wins in a really tight race.
33.9 Points per 75 on +7.8 rTS% 7.4 BPM Giannis is 33.2 Points per 75 on +5.2 rTS% 7.3 BPM
2020-2021: Nikola Jokic wins.
28.4 points per 75 on +7.4 rTS% 8.6 BPM.
2021-2022: This is Nikola Jokic comfortably.
29.7 Points per 75 on +9.7 rTS%. 8.6 BPM.
2022-2023: This is Nikola Jokic by a massive landslide once again.
26.5 Points per 75 on insane +12.3 rTS% with insane passing is just too good. 9.0 Box Plus minus, which is a stunning 3.4 above 2nd placed Doncic. For context, that’s the same as from Doncic to Jakob Poeltl.
2023-2024: This is pretty clearly Nikola Jokic again**.**
Jokic had 28.4 Points per 75 on +7.2 rTS% with elite passing and a 9.2 Box plus minus, 1st place by a mile.
Here are the players sorted by appearances:
- Michael Jordan: 7 (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996)
- LeBron James: 6 (2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
- Nikola Jokic: 4 (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
- Magic Johnson: 4 (1982, 1983, 1987)
- Larry Bird: 3 (1984, 1985, 1986)
- Dirk Nowitzki: 3 (2003, 2005, 2007)
- James Harden: 3 (2018, 2019, 2020)
- Karl Malone: 3 (1997, 1998, 1999)
- Shaquille O’Neal: 2 (2000, 2001)
- David Robinson: 2 (1994, 1995)
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 1 (1980)
- Julius Erving: 1 (1981)
- Kevin Durant: 2 (2014, 2017)
- Stephen Curry: 2 (2015, 2016)
- Tim Duncan: 1 (2002)
- Kevin Garnett: 1 (2004)
- Chris Paul: 1 (2008)
This is just regular seasons though right, Lebron really started coasting 2015 ish
Commenting here to see what shows up when it is updated to the Top 3 per season
Where is Kobe?? Everyone says he is top 10 all time
Did you casually throw out Giannis having one of the greatest seasons of all-time even higher than MJ.