most valuable player vs player

most valuable player and player both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
most valuable player	Yes	No	No	No
player	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, player is a hypernym of most valuable player; that is, player is a word with a broader meaning than most valuable player:

most valuable player: the player judged to be the most important to the sport
player: a person who participates in or is skilled at some game

Other hypernyms of most valuable player include participant.

most valuable player (noun)	player (noun)
the player judged to be the most important to the sport	a theatrical performer
	a person who participates in or is skilled at some game
	someone who plays a music as a profession
	a person who pursues a number of different social and sexual partners simultaneously
	someone who takes part in an activity