International players are dominating the NBA more than ever, and with the game always changing, you never really know who’s gonna be a star these days. It could be a 41st pick in the draft or the 2nd. It is that time for playoff basketball, and award season is now here too, giving out other awards such as MIP(Most Improved Player), ROTY(Rookie of the Year), and DPOY(Defensive Player of the Year). Since 1953, the NBA has given out awards to players across the league. The award that has the most impact on your career is obviously the MVP(Most Valuable Player). Most of the past winners of this award are Hall of Fame legends such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Allen Iverson,just to name a few.
Many qualifications have to be made by the player to be included in MVP conversations, such as how many games your team won or the player’s individual stats. While most players win because they are the best player on the best team, like Steve Nash, there are some exceptions. Some players win MVP because they led their team to relevance due to their dominance, such as 2017 Russell Westbrook, who averaged a Triple-Double(only 2 other players have done so), but only got the 6th seed. The media also has a lot of sway on the voters, as the person with the best narrative and media attention is most likely to get the votes. In this article, I will tell you of this historic MVP race, and who I think should win, as we look at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, also known as SGA, is most likely going to win this award this season. At just 26, in his 7th season, he averaged 32.7 points, 5 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per game. He led his team to a season that will go down as one of the best, with the 7th-best regular season record and the 3rd-best net rating of all time. Nikola Jokic is the best player of this generation, winning 3 MVPs in the last 4 years. He led his team to the 4th seed, which is not a bad placement, but other than the 1st and 2nd seeds this season, the West was pretty competitive with the last couple of games in the regular season deciding which teams got the higher seeding. Jokic averaged a triple-double, having 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 10.2 assists per game, being only the 3rd NBA player ever to do that in a season.
Jokic is quite simple, he averaged a triple-double and got enough wins to be relevant, but here’s the thing, he had 3 MVPs before. If he won this season again, he would have 4 MVPs, making him the 3rd person to have 4 MVPs, next to Wilt and LeBron. Voter fatigue is when the media and the voters are bored with the same person dominating and want to see a bright new face winning the award, making Shai’s case look even better. So, with a player with one of the best individual stats ever versus a player who is elite and is winning a lot, give me Shai.
