For the second season in a row, the league's MVP race is solely between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic. Because of this, it should come as no surprise that one of the biggest storylines in the NBA heading into Sunday's matinee between the OKC Thunder and Denver Nuggets revolves around this illustrious chase.
However, leading up to tip-off, coach Mark Daigneault is trying his best to downplay the chatter. During Saturday's shootaround, the headman emphasized that the focus for Oklahoma City is on the matchup between the two teams, not the individual talents partaking in the exhibition.
"That may be from the outside, but it's Thunder-Nuggets from the inside. At least from our standpoint," Daigneault said.
Thunder sticking to same old, team-first mantra ahead of Nuggets game
Despite being headlined by arguably the most well-rounded player currently in the association, this Thunder squad has consistently demonstrated a team-first mentality.
Even last week, Gilgeous-Alexander himself highlighted that the reason why "we've had success this year" is not because of their star power but, rather, the fact that OKC understands they are "a group" and "a team."
Still, despite this rhetoric, it hasn't stopped the outside world -- as Daigneault described it -- from talking ad nauseam about the race for the Michael Jordan Trophy.
To some, deciding who the frontrunner should be between SGA and Joker is still a bit challenging, even 63 games in. Others, like ESPN's Brian Windhorst, believe the gap between the Thunder star and the rest of the league is quite substantial.
For Shai, regardless of whether the odds are in his favor or against him, he's continued to ball out at truly historic rates.
Throughout his 61 games played this season, Gilgeous-Alexander has regularly found himself setting all-time records.
From setting the mark for consecutive games of scoring at least 20 points in under 40 minutes played to registering the fastest recorded time to drop one's first four 50-plus point games, the three-time All-Star has simply been on another level throughout the 2024-25 campaign.
Add on the fact that he's leading the NBA in scoring (32.8 points), stuffing the rest of the stat-sheet with 6.2 assists, 5.1 rebounds, 1.8 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game, and is the top player on the top-seeded team in the Western Conference with a record of 52-11, and it should be well understood that the Thunder star is more than deserving of taking home the coveted MVP hardware come year's end.
That said, as he's mentioned throughout the season, and as coach Daigneault recently reminded us, Oklahoma City's goals and aspirations far surpass winning any individual honors.