The Oklahoma City Thunder own the best record in the Western Conference, and they are just a half game behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the title of best record in the league. This team is stacked top to bottom, and is primed for a deep playoff run in two months. Of course, the Thunder would not be the absolute juggernaut they are without the services of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
SGA is in seventh professional season, and he has been playing like a perennial MVP candidate in each of the last three seasons. Now, this year may be when he finally takes home the prestigious award.
We have already seen Gilgeous-Alexander pull off some ridiculous statistical feats this season. After Sunday night's road win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, he has now scored at least 20 points while playing under 40 minutes in 51 straight games, an NBA record. He has scored below that mark just one time this entire season, not counting the All-Star game.
In terms of season averages, SGA is putting up a career-high 32.3 points and 6.1 assists while shooting 52% and leading what is likely the best team in basketball. Those are MVP numbers, and for the last several weeks, his only real competition when it comes to the MVP discussion has been Nikola Jokic.
SGA needs his MVP moment
The Denver Nuggets' future Hall-of-Fame center has won the award three of the last four seasons, and he had a legitimate argument to take it home in the only season he did not win it as well. Now, the discussion seems to be moving toward Gilgeous-Alexander. As he becomes more and more of the favorite to be the winner, it is clear that he needs just one more thing to become a runaway winner.
That one thing being a singular performance that gets the entire league buzzing even more about his season, and vaults him to the status of the easy choice for MVP. This could come in the form of a few things. It could be one night where he just posts unbelievable stats and gets, say, 60 points against any old team. Or it could be a night where he posts, say, 40 points along with a game-winning shot against another contending team.
An outing like this would put him firmly at the top of the discussion. The moment SGA pulls something like this off, it will likely be the moment the MVP award becomes his and he never looks back.
feed