Following his triumphant efforts during Monday's 129-126 win over the Nuggets, it seemed that the vast majority of people were ready to anoint OKC Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the league's undisputed MVP.
Before his historic performance, some were already considering it a likely possibility that the point guard could be crowned just the second unanimous winner of the illustrious honor here in 2025-26.
Needless to say, it only makes sense that this buzz grew louder post-game.
However, long-time sports pundit Max Kellerman is singing a completely different tune from the rest of the pack, one that suggests Gilgeous-Alexander shouldn't even place within the top two of the MVP voting race.
Wild mindset could threaten Thunder star's claim to unanimous MVP win
During a recent episode of Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul, the veteran personality was quick to debate the true value of SGA on this objectively stacked Thunder team, saying that the main reason why he's able to make highlight plays and "hit a crazy shot at the end of a game" is because he's surrounded by "great players wherever you look."
"Even without Chet [Holmgren] or the All-Star Jalen Williams... everyone on the team can play," Kellerman said. "The team is so excellent you can't start off by saying, 'Hey we're doubling the league MVP.' You don't start that way because... you're going to leave someone who can shoot the lights out open."
Kellerman would go on to suggest that, in his eyes, the MVP winner should come down to either Nikola Jokic or Victor Wembanyama, though he acknowledged the Thunder cornerstone "is up there," but falls short based on his personal qualifiers.
Fortunately, The Ringer's new personality doesn't have a vote, which means he won't be able to affect the outcome of the MVP race anyway.
However, this kind of tired-out mindset is one that has plagued stars leading incredibly deep teams in the past -- just ask LeBron James, who, back in 2013, missed out on becoming the first unanimous MVP because of this very same ideology.
As Kellerman has proven, it lives on this season as well.
The fact of the matter is that even though Oklahoma City's talent pool is incredibly deep, Gilgeous-Alexander is still far and away the most obvious choice to take home the Michael Jordan Trophy.
Be it by way of his Wilt Chamberlain-tying level of consistency, the fact that he's on pace to become the third player ever to wrap up a season scoring 30.0 or more points a game on 50.0 percent shooting from the field, or that he leads the entire league in plus-minus (plus-10.9) while spearheading the charge for the league's top team, this really shouldn't be up for debate.
Surprisingly, however, it is here in mid-March.