The NBA’s two best players will clash in the Western Conference semifinals this week.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic are bringing the focus back on the MVP race as the two favourites embark on what will be a fiery playoff clash for a place in the conference finals.
For Jokic’s teammates, there is no question about the MVP this season as guard Christian Braun believes the Serbian may have produced the best regular season of all time.
“I think that Nikola had maybe the greatest season ever,” Braun said.
“I don’t know if you’ll ever see a player do what he did ever again in one singular regular season. They [Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander] were both great. I think, obviously, the Thunder are an amazing team.
“Shai’s an amazing player. So I don’t think there’s any wrong choice. To see what Nikola did night in and night out, I don’t know that you’ll ever see that again.”
The MVP debate is an uncomfortable conversation for Jokic but when asked about it in March, he made the case for himself to win the award.
“I think I’m playing the best basketball of my life. So if that’s enough, it’s enough,” Jokic said March 10, after the Denver Nuggets’ 140-127 win over Oklahoma City Thunder.
“If not, [Gilgeous-Alexander] deserves it. He’s really amazing.”
As Jokic reiterated that Gilgeous-Alexander would be a worthy winner, what he implied between the lines was also very telling.
This is his best ever season and if his other seasons warranted three MVP campaigns, then logically he should win the award again.
And the numbers back the 30-year-old’s claim.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was expected to storm the award before Jokic’s resurgenceGettty Jokic believes this is his best ever seasonGettyJokic is averaging a triple-double and leading the league with 33 of them this season, he’s also among the top three in scoring (29.6), rebounds (12.7), assists (10.2) and steals (1.8).
In any other campaign, this would be an open-and-shut case for the MVP title but unfortunately, Gilgeous-Alexander is also enjoying a remarkable season.
He leads the league in scoring with 32.7 points per game and led the youngest team in the league to a stunning 68 wins.
In December, Thunder center Chet Holmgren posted on X, “Lu Dort for DPOY and Shai for MVP or we riot.”
While the Thunder and Nuggets’ round two clash will have no bearing on the winner, the series will bring the focus back on to the MVP tussle.
“It is the last thing on both of our minds,” Jokic said Saturday night after the Nuggets beat the Clippers in Game 7.
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Thunder coach Mark Daigneault echoed Jokic.
“I know Shai a lot better than I know Jokic,” Daigneault said. “But I think I know enough to know that neither one of them are going to get distracted by that.
“Both of them are going to be fully invested in the series. It’s a supplement to the series. But it’s really, it’s not part of the series at all.”
An MVP award is a legacy enhancing accolade but so is a championship, or two of them in Jokic’s case, and that will be the aim for both of the NBA‘s two best players.
The series begins in Oklahoma City on Monday night.
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