Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to dominate in the biggest games of the season, which is why he’s running neck-and-neck with the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić in the race for league MVP.
Over his last five games, he has scored 30 or more in four of the five. In two of them, he dropped 48 and 40, respectively, and is now averaging a career-high 33 ppg. His previous career-high in a season was 31.4 in 2022-23.
Those last five games also includes back-to-back games against the Nuggets, which the Thunder split and the two superstars did as well.
While the most recent MVP ranking on NBA.com has Jokić edging in front, particularly after his record-setting 30, 20, 20 game, but Shai isn’t letting up.
He’s the league’s leading scorer, has the Thunder in first place in the Western Conference and is tied with the Cavs in wins for best record overall. In the eyes of many, this gives Shai an edge over both Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
This would be Gilgeous-Alexander’s first MVP award if he wins it, which would be an amazing line to add to a resume that already includes 3x NBA All-Star and 2x All-NBA first-team selections.
But to the humble Shai, his incredible season isn’t as important as the fact that his team is winning, especially in, arguably, the tougher conference.
These factors have Shai in a perfect position to win MVP over 3x MVP Jokic and 2x MVP Giannis.
What the race for league MVP is extremely tight, I believe that Shai is currently on a different level than anyone else.
Six years ago, many people, if any at all, didn’t realize that being traded to OKC from the Clippers was the best thing to happen to Shai as he has been able to mature into the leader and star of this team.
Winning league MVP will cement his name with some of the greatest to ever play this game, and with less than 20 games left in the regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander needs to keep doing what he’s been doing to walk away with his first MVP and, quite possibly, an NBA Championship.
