Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Drops a Spot in Latest MVP Ladder
Oklahoma City’s star is losing ground in the MVP race.
The Thunder’s MVP candidate is slowly slipping down the standings. That’s no slight to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the superstar guard couldn’t have had a much better season. He was an All-Star starter, he’s in line to be an All-NBA player and he has the Thunder in contention for the No. 1 seed in a loaded Western Conference. He’s exceeded every single expectation he had when Oklahoma City traded for him.
In a year with so many unbelievable players putting up video game numbers though, it was always going to be hard. On Friday, Gilgeous-Alexander dropped a spot to No. 3 in the NBA’s MVP Ladder behind Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic. Although the MVP Ladder isn’t anything official and carries no real weight, it’s hard to ignore what Doncic is doing and the national media is picking up on it. His recent stretch is the main reason he was able to jump to No. 2.
Gilgeous-Alexander hasn’t picked up much momentum down the stretch as he had a few out-of-characteristic performances and then missed back-to-back games with a quad injury. And in all honesty, the handful of uncharacteristic outings were likely connected to the quad injury.
SGA, who leads the league in 30-point outings, has been held under 30 in four of the last five games. He has registered three straight games under 50% shooting and a season-low of 12 points against Milwaukee last week. After the Thunder’s win in New Orleans, it was clear he needed a break with his quad injury, hence the two-game absence.
Gilgeous-Alexander is still averaging 30.4 points, 6.3 assists, and 5.6 rebounds on 54% shooting. He is having a season for the books, and perhaps one of the greatest years in Thunder history. Unfortunately, Doncic is matching it.
The Mavericks superstar guard is averaging 33.9 points, 9.8 assists and 9.1 rebounds on 48.7% shooting. He has registered many triple-doubles and has had a handful of truly absurd stat lines. If Dallas was locked into the top four of the Western Conference, it feels like Doncic would be a lock for MVP.
Despite Doncic’s best efforts, and Gilgeous-Alexander’s massive run, Jokic is the overwhelming favorite for MVP. 26.1 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 9.0 assists on 58.1% shooting is unheard-of efficiency. And like SGA, his team is in serious contention for the No. 1 seed.
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