The 2024-25 NBA MVP race has been hotly contested between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the OKC Thunder and Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. While Jokic is the reigning MVP and has won the award thrice already, Shai was last year’s runner-up and has clearly taken a step forward this season.
Tyrese Haliburton agrees, supporting Gilgeous-Alexander for MVP. In a recent interview, Haliburton explained why Shai is the obvious pick and claimed a player poll around the league would yield similar results.
“I grew up in an era where the best player on the best team wins MVP every time. I think our era is kind of getting away from that a little bit, which is fine, because I think Jokic and those guys are warranted when they win.”
“But I think you take away them (OKC) having the best record, he (Shai) would still be the MVP, and then you throw on the fact that he has the best record, he kind of makes it an easy decision. I don’t have a vote, but if you took a player poll, I’m sure he would win.”
Tyrese Halliburton said SGA is the “MVP, no question.”
“I grew up in an era where the best player on the best team wins MVP every time. I think our era is kind of getting away from that a little bit, which is fine, because, I think Jokic and those guys are warranted when they… pic.twitter.com/O5gagkQat8
— Joel Lorenzi (@JoelXLorenzi) March 30, 2025
This year’s race has been tight. Jokic has had arguably the best individual season of his career, averaging 29.3 points, 12.8 rebounds, and 10.2 assists. Despite the Nuggets losing key rotational players over recent seasons, Jokic’s ability has them compete among the best without missing a beat. But the Nuggets are no longer the team to beat in the West with a 47-28 record this season.
Oklahoma City has already sealed the No. 1 seed in the West for themselves, the second straight season they’ve headed into the postseason with the best record in the West. Shai lost to Jokic last season despite having better numbers and a record, but he’s reinforced both those points this season.
Shai is averaging 32.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 6.3 assists, with OKC having a 62-12 record. The team is 15.5 games ahead of the Nuggets, while Shai is the scoring leader and is dominating the league in almost every advanced metric.
Even the things Jokic has relied upon in the past to make his MVP cases indisputable, such as team record and advanced stats, have gone to Shai this season. Nobody’s questioning Jokic’s place as the best player in the NBA, but it shouldn’t be a hot take to acknowledge that Shai is a few steps ahead of Jokic by now.
There really isn’t a way Jokic could climb back into the race. Unless OKC loses their remaining eight games and the Nuggets win their remaining seven games, we really won’t see any movement in this race. Even if that happens, I don’t see how recency bias could be so heavy to invalidate an excellent full season by Shai.
Both players would rather win the big postseason trophy known as the Larry O’Briend trophy and the Bill Russell Finals MVP award. Jokic knows how it feels to win that as well, but most people would back Shai to get his first taste of that glory as well.
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