Oklahoma City Thunder news: With the regular season winding down, the battle for positioning in both the East and the West is definitely heating up. Fans are also keeping a close eye on the race for the end-of-season individual awards, with none more gripping than the Most Valuable Player title.
Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is in the midst of the best campaign of his young career, and it comes as absolutely no surprise that he’s one of the top frontrunners to bag the coveted MVP title. If you ask ESPN broadcaster Stephen A Smith, his money is on the OKC guard.
Stephen A. Smith All-In on Oklahoma City Thunder Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP Hype Train
Smith recently provided multiple compelling arguments as to why SGA should win his first-ever MVP title this year. According to Stephen A, the numbers have to speak for themselves:
“He’s the No. 1 seed in the West as we speak,” Smith said (h/t NBACentral on Twitter). “He’s played 71 of 74 games this year. He’s third in the NBA averaging 30.3 behind Luka (Doncic) and Giannis (Antetokounmpo) only. He’s had an NBA-high 50 games of 30 or more points this season. He’s shooting a career-high 53.9% from the field. 58% on 2PT shots. 36.5% from 3-point range. In 4 games against Denver, they’re 3-1, he’s averaging 26-5-5.”
If you look at it that way then it does seem that there should be little doubt as to where the Michael Jordan trophy should be headed this season.
As we all know, however, it’s never really just about the numbers. While this plays an undeniably integral part in each player’s MVP credentials, there are a lot of other factors that go into the vote. In fact, there’s just no sure-fire formula to determine which player deserves to win the title the most.
At this point, Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic, who has won the MVP crown twice in the past, and Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks appear to be the two main hurdles standing in Shai’s way. Right now, there are less than 10 games remaining for all three superstars to stake their claim.
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