For the vast majority of the campaign, OKC Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has largely been considered the front-runner to take home the 2025 NBA MVP award.
However, with his play as of late, Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic has ramped up his support among pollsters for the illustrious honor, with NBA.com recently bumping the three-time recipient up to number one on their latest power ranking.
In fairness to Denver's all-world talent, the uptick in attention he's been receiving is more than deserved. He's on the verge of averaging a triple-double on the season with 29 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 10.4 assists per game and has his team soundly in the running for the number two seed in the Western Conference standings.
With that being said, Gilgeous-Alexander should still be en route to locking up his first MVP award come year's end, and there are six statistics that strengthen such a notion.
32.8 points per game
In an era that's heavily invested in scoring abilities, the Thunder star is the best in the business.
As things currently stand, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads the league in points per game with 32.8. In total, he has dropped a league-leading 2,097 points through 64 games played -- 359 more than Jokic, mind you.
Add this to the fact that he's shooting 52.5 percent from the floor and 37.1 percent from distance, and sports an overall true shooting percentage of 64.5 as a guard, and one could make the case that he's the most efficient scorer in the game this year.
Thunder boast a 122.1 offensive rating when SGA is on the floor
Unsurprisingly, the Thunder sport an elite 122.1 offensive rating when Gilgeous-Alexander is on the floor.
Not only is this a team-high among those who have logged a minimum of 30 games played, but it is even greater than this year's best offensive team, the Cleveland Cavaliers' rating (121.8), and their top player, Donovan Mitchell's on-court rating (120.2).
Thunder boast a 108.2 offensive rating when SGA is off the floor
The flip side of this stellar on-court offensive rating is how terribly Oklahoma City produces when he's on the sidelines taking a breather.
Perhaps the biggest flaw of this Thunder team, the ball club's offensive punch plummets all the way down to a painfully low 108.2.
Such a mark ranks fourth-worst in the association, narrowly being bested by Brooklyn's lowly 108.8 rating.
16.6 net rating
Net rating is a measurement the NBA uses to determine the per 100 possessions point differential between a team's offensive and defensive ratings when a player in on the floor.
In layman's terms, it is a way to statistically show how good of a two-way contributor a player is.
With a rating of 16.6, the Thunder guard leads the league in such a metric out of players who have logged a minimum of 30 games on the year.
+765 plus/ minus
Plus-minus is a statistic that measures the difference between a team's score compared to their opponent's when a particular player is on the floor.
Considering it's already been established that he's arguably the best two-way player in the league this season, no one should be shocked to find that Shai sports a total plus-minus of +765 in 2024-25, +274 better than Nikola Jokic.
54-12 record
Last but certainly not least, one could simply make a case for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's claim to the MVP award by truthfully stating that he is the best player on the best team in the Western Conference.
At 54-12, the Thunder currently hold a 12-win edge over both the second-seeded Grizzlies and third-seeded Nuggets.
Already, they have their second-consecutive playoff berth clinched, and with 16 games left on the docket and one win behind the Cleveland Cavaliers, they could ultimately wind up with the best record in the NBA come the conclusion of game No. 82.
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