(Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports)
Posted by: Zaid Malik
January 18th, 2024
What has 21 letters and will come to your city and drop the quietest 35 piece on your favorite team? I know you may instantly think of Thanasis Antetokounmpo or Michael Carter-Williams, but I’m here to tell you that the answer is much simpler.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The ‘Most Valuable Player’ award has recently turned into an award that goes to the best player on one of the top 3 or 4 teams in the league. Obviously the talent of a player like Steph or Lebron matches that of any other player in the league, but as long as they are not a top 2 seed in the West they will not be in the conversation for MVP.
Halfway through the season the teams have slowly separated into tiers. The Oklahoma City Thunder with their young core are the 2 seed in the west and they are led by their 6 '6 guard SGA. The Thunder are 27-13 and boast an impressive home record of 16-5. They have multiple wins against the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets as well as wins against the Celtics and Timberwolves (both #1 seeds).
The MVP ladder usually consists of a 3 headed monster that becomes clear around three quarters of the way into the season. We are about 20 games from that, but early signs are pointing to the top 3 being Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and SGA. Shai is averaging 31, 6, and 6 with 2 steals and 1 block per game. He has played 10 more games than Embiid and 2 less than Jokic. Voter fatigue is a real thing and giving the award to Nikola Jokic for a 3rd time in 4 years or Embiid for a 2nd straight year seem like ideas that could get tiresome for voters.
If the Thunder can stay ahead of the Nuggets in the West, and Embiid misses a few more games, we could have our 3rd different MVP on the Thunder in the last 10 years, which is incredible. With how the future has been built by Sam Presti in OKC, the next decade may be an exciting one for Thunder fans.
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