I read something interesting regarding MVP voting vs. All NBA voting. At some level, with All NBA being position-less, the top 15 in the MVP voting should be the same as the top 15 in All NBA voting. But it won't work out quite that way. If you pick your top 5 for All NBA, they all get the same points. #1 and #5 would get the same points. But for MVP, your #1 will get more points than your #5.
I am not sure how this will end up in terms of favoring one player or another, but it is interesting to consider. Why not just have the top 15 in the MVP voting be the All NBA teams? How different will the votes end up being? Is it possible that a player is more deserving of MVP but less deserving of All NBA (or the other way around)? I guess it is the age old best vs. most valuable debate.
My guess is that the two votes end up very close if not exactly the same.
They will usually be pretty similar because the best players are the ones which are the most valuable, which often shows up in the stat lines, but they are not the same. I was being serious about Brunson being a top 5 MVP candidate but not on the 1st Team All NBA. I think there is at least a non-zero chance Brunson does end up ahead of Tatum in MVP voting, but I'd be stunned if Brunson made the 1st Team ahead of Tatum (or any of the other 4 guys).
That said, Bontemps released his final MVP straw poll today and Brunson wasn't all that close to Tatum.
https://africa.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/39861520/nba-mvp-straw-poll-where-jokic-luka-sga-other-contenders-stand-our-final-vote-2023-24ESPN NBA MVP Straw Poll: Final Results
PLAYER TEAM 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH 5TH TOTAL
VOTES TOTAL
POINTS
1 Nikola Jokic DEN 85 14 1 0 0 100 953
2 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander OKC 10 45 39 5 1 100 626
3 Luka Doncic DAL 1 31 43 15 6 96 493
4 Giannis Antetokounmpo MIL 2 8 13 62 7 92 334
5 Jayson Tatum BOS 2 1 1 11 54 69 119
6 Jalen Brunson NY 0 0 3 2 19 24 40
7 Anthony Edwards MIN 0 1 0 5 5 11 27
8 Kawhi Leonard LAC 0 0 0 0 4 4 4
9 Domantas Sabonis SAC 0 0 0 0 3 3 3
10 Jaylen Brown BOS 0 0 0 0 1 1 1