Nick Wright Claims Voters Collaborated on Finals MVP; Voters Say No Way [UPDATE]

On First Things First, Nick Wright tried explaining to viewers the voting process of the 2015 Finals MVP, which was won by Andre Iguodala. Wright claimed that Iguodala and LeBron James received four votes while Steph Curry received three. He posited that the writers gathered together and said they couldn’t have co-MVPs and switched all their Curry votes to Iguodala, making the total: Iguodala-7, James-4, Curry-0. That would be quite the story. However, a few voters, ones that would know, can’t stop laughing at Wright’s statement:

As someone who voted for Andre, this is laughable - as @MarcJSpearsESPN said. There is no group collaboration. Also, there’s no rule that a losing player can’t win. Tin foil hats though... https://t.co/z3NmjPGq4s
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) June 4, 2019

This is laughable. Tough to “come together” when voters are sitting at their press seats in different spots around the arena and an NBA rep grabs your ballot before the buzzer sounds. https://t.co/j6eJ1Dr8m0
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) June 4, 2019

Tim Frank, VP, League Operations Communications for the NBA also chimed in:

This absolutely never happened. No media member, including any voter, was privy to those results until they were announced on the court. The results were as we announced – Iguodala 7, James 4. Also, players from both teams are always eligible to win the Finals MVP https://t.co/EpTJererej
— Tim Frank (@tfrank14) June 4, 2019

As Spears detailed, it would be incredibly hard for the writers to really pull this off. Wright is on-air nearly five hours a day between radio and television. Mistakes happen, but this is a very big thing to throw out there and quite irresponsible as it clearly appears wrong.

UPDATE: Wright addressed the denials.

One of the perils of a mid afternoon nap is if you screw something up on TV that morning you can wake up to some of best NBA writers in the world saying you’re full of it.

I’ve now heard from multiple people I respect/trust that I was just flat wrong on this. Again, my apologies https://t.co/ihUS2frLfX
— nick wright (@getnickwright) June 4, 2019