A new poll conducted by MSNBC finds that a majority of Americans believe that Carmelo Anthony will be the Knicks’ best player of the upcoming season, and they think Anthony should be the team’s MVP.
The poll, which was conducted among a representative sample of 2,084 adults aged 18 and over, finds that 69% of respondents believe that Anthony will win MVP this season, with 24% saying they think the New York Knicks will win the MVP and 13% saying Anthony will finish with the most MVP votes.
Among those who think Anthony will take home the MVP award, 54% believe he will win it, and 27% think he will finish in the top 5.
Anthony has been a hot commodity in the NBA lately, and the Knicks have struggled to find a consistent scoring option for him to rely on.
He has averaged 21.4 points, 5.9 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 steals per game this season.
Anthony is also getting his shots on the glass more than ever, as his 3.8 attempts per game on the court are the highest since his rookie season in 2009-10, and he has the fifth-most 3-point attempts in the league behind James Harden, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul.
According to the poll, 76% of people believe Anthony will score more points than the next highest scorer this season and 75% believe Anthony should lead the league in scoring.
However, only 13% think Anthony is the best player in the upcoming NBA season, while 51% believe the best person in the game is Kyrie Irving, and just 17% think the best thing to do is draft him.
The poll found that 34% of Americans think that LeBron James will win NBA MVP this year, and that the Cavs will finish the season with the second-most MVP votes behind the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors are projected to have the second most MVPs in the history of the league, behind only the 1998-99 Chicago Bulls.