Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Case for MVP This Season
Long gone are the days of Kevin Durant putting up 50-balls and Russell Westbrook putting up triple-doubles while on their way to earning their Most Variable Player awards. But there is another MVP candidate emerging from the Oklahoma City Thunder. His name is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Starting his career with the Los Angeles Clippers, Shai wasn’t looked at as a star coming out of the University of Kentucky. He had an impressive rookie season, earning All-Rookie Second Team honors. Shai was traded to OKC the next season in a deal that brought Paul George (at Kawhi Leonard’s request). His emergence with his new team alongside future Hall of Fame Chris Paul helped the Thunder reach the playoffs. But now, Shai is putting up MVP numbers while leading the Thunder as a top seed in the league. But let’s get into why he should be the MVP.
Shai is putting up 30.3 points per game which is point shy from last year. His PPG ranks third in the entire league. But he’s averaging a career-high 6.2 assists and 2.0 steals. The steals per game are first in the entire league. He’s the definition of a two-way star. None of the other MVP candidates he’s going against are putting up those type of defensive numbers.
These are the players who have averaged 30+ points and 2+ steals in a season:
Shai will finish the season averaging 30+. We don’t know if he will make an All-Defensive team but he has a good shot. Unfortunately, a lot of the players on the list above did not make an All-Defensive team despite leading the league in steals. Here’s a list of the players who’s averaged 30 and made an All-Defensive team :
Via Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/nbadiscussion/
Both of these lists are filled with Hall of Famers/MVP caliber players. Shai is next in line for those honors.
Not only has Shai put up these numbers, his team values his plays heavily. Here is a comparison of how his team fairs without him:
The next few graphics are how the Celtics, Nuggets, and Mavericks fair without their MVP candidates:
It’s a small sample size, but it shows that the other teams can win without their star.
The Thunder also improved significantly from the previous season, winning 16 more games. They also went from not making the playoffs to competing for the first seed in their conference and the second best record in the entire league. We are not going to discredit the improvement of Jalen Williams and the outstanding rookie performances by Chet Holmgren, but Shai has been the lightning rod of a young, exciting Thunder team. He should be the MVP.