The Thunder star appears to be well on his way to winning his first MVP award.
The MVP discussion is only going to get more heated the closer we get to the actual awarding of the trophy. At this point, there are only two likely winners of the award for the 2024-25 season: Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic, with the latter being the reigning MVP. And it looks as though there will be a first-time winner of the award, if the latest ESPN straw poll is any indication.
Among 100 media members polled by ESPN, 77 of them gave their first-place MVP vote to the Thunder star, with the remaining 23 rewarding Jokic with his fourth MVP award. There is established precedent that whoever wins in ESPN’s straw poll ends up being the actual winner of the award come season’s end, which bodes well for Gilgeous-Alexander’s chances of bagging home the NBA’s most prestigious individual award.
With the Thunder dominating any and every team that comes their way en route to having the best record in the NBA (at present), Gilgeous-Alexander has such a strong case to win his first MVP award. He’s entering their Wednesday night clash against the Detroit Pistons averaging a league-leading 32.8 points per game, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.4 assists on 52/38/90 shooting splits. He’s also a defensive disruptor, averaging 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks per contest.
Meanwhile, Jokic’s case hinges more on his individual dominance and how the Nuggets still collapse whenever he’s not on the floor (he has a net rating of nearly +16). He recently dropped a 61-point triple-double and yet Denver still lost. It might be difficult to argue against Jokic’s bonkers averages of 29.7 points, 12.8 rebounds, and 10.2 assists per game, but the Thunder are 16.5 games better than the Nuggets and team success still has to be rewarded at the end of the day — especially when the disparity between the two players isn’t that huge anyway.
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Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander likely to win his first MVP award
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When the Thunder acquired Shai Gilgeous-Alexander via the Paul George trade in 2019, little did everyone know that he would blossom into one of the best players in the association and a future MVP. But Gilgeous-Alexander has done nothing but get better since coming into the league, and his efforts in working on himself look like they’re going to be vindicated in a huge way.
The key now, of course, is for Gilgeous-Alexander to sustain this level of play in the playoffs as he looks to lead a stacked Thunder team all the way to the promised land.