In an ironic turn of events, the dominant level that OKC Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been playing at may come back to bite him during awards season this coming year.
Voter fatigue already seems to be setting in for the Oklahoma City cornerstone, as ESPN's crop of insiders are publicly declaring in their latest predictions piece that they believe Shai will not only fall short of the illustrious individual honor in 2027, but should finish fourth in the running behind Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, and projected winner Victor Wembanyama.
The point guard has been on an absolute tear over these past few campaigns, what with him winning two straight MVPs, guiding the Thunder to an NBA Championship, setting the all-time record for most consecutive 20-point games, and dropping averages of 31.3 points, 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and just shy of a block since 2023-24.
And while he and OKC are still widely expected to be one of the top teams in the West, with FanDuel even giving them the best odds to win this year's title, SGA still isn't even viewed as a top-three threat to take home his third consecutive Michael Jordan Trophy.
Thunder star predicted to be latest example of voter fatigue
When discussing this recent rankings list on an episode of the Hoop Collective podcast, Brian Windhorst branded Gilgeous-Alexander's lowly placement as "the headline" takeaway from the piece, with co-host Tim MacMahon explaining that "every time you win it, the bar gets higher."
Last season, Shai was able to raise his level of play to reach said bar. This year, however, it seems far too high.
This is nothing new for consecutive MVP recipients.
LeBron James arguably fell victim to this kind of voter fatigue back in 2011 when Derrick Rose took home the award, while many believe Nikola Jokic missed out on a worthy three-peat in this department himself in 2024-25 (though Thunder fans rightly detest such a notion).
Winning three-straight MVPs is an incredibly rare feat in the NBA, with the last person to do so being Larry Bird back in 1984 through 1986.
Fortunately, Gilgeous-Alexander is the kind of player who focuses primarily on trying to better his team's success rate rather than further stuffing his hardware collection.
Should he miss out on a third MVP this year, but ends up guiding the Thunder to a third consecutive 60-plus win season and, more importantly, another NBA Championship, it's safe to assume he'd be more than content with the end-of-season results.
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