SGA vs. Jokic: Analyzing the NBA MVP Race Dynamics

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00:00The MVP race is between two if it is not between one.

00:05It is SGA and Nikola Jokic.

00:08This is, look, these are two excellent candidates.

00:13There is no way to slice it.

00:15I believe that there is the camp who feels as if Jokic will not win this

00:23because of fatigue.

00:24I think that is very, I think that lacks a lot of awareness

00:29as to what SGA has been both sides of the floor

00:32for a team that flirted with 70 wins this season.

00:37I'll go to you first, J.Y.

00:39Do you feel that this ultimately will be SGA comfortably as the league's MVP?

00:45Yes, I do.

00:46And I think it has to do with the fact of,

00:48and I do think voter fatigue has a small portion of it,

00:52but it should not be the overwhelming theme

00:55because if that's overwhelming theme, you're right.

00:57You're disrespecting what SGA has done this year, right?

01:01So SGA's team is, I think, 15 games ahead in the Western Conference.

01:07That's wild.

01:08That's like winning, what, by like 30 games in Major League Baseball.

01:11Yeah.

01:11Yeah, about 30 games in Major League Baseball.

01:14Let's make sure I get my numbers right.

01:16But when you look at his stats and what he's done,

01:19getting you at 32.7 points per game, getting the rebounds,

01:22getting the steals, the blocks, 2.7 assist to turnover ratio,

01:26and at points, Hart and Stein was out of the lineup.

01:30Shet had missed significant time, and this team continued to roll.

01:34Sometimes it's not about what Joker did.

01:39It's about what someone else did,

01:41and their team was significantly better for the entirety of the regular season

01:46and has shown he should be on the all-defensive team as well.

01:51I think this honestly shouldn't be a race.

01:54If it is a race, it's because people honestly, Tom,

01:58are just looking at the stats of Joker averaging a triple-double this season.

02:02I, as we spoke about pre-show, I believe it should be SGA.

02:07Regardless of my personal belief that Cade Cunningham deserves some recognition

02:10for how amazing he's been this season, it's going to be SGA.

02:13And I don't want to say voter fatigue is a part of that.

02:16We've gotten to the point that we see what the team does in the standings,

02:20and at a certain point early in the year,

02:22the narrative is put forth that SGA is deserving of the award.

02:27Yeah.

02:27And it's not just that we put forth this narrative

02:29or the media in general puts forth this narrative.

02:31He's actually met those expectations, and he's exceeded them,

02:34and the team is so, so good compared to the Nuggets.

02:38So when we round it all together, a smidge of voter fatigue,

02:42this narrative, the stats, leading the league in points, all these things,

02:45it puts him in a spot where he actually does those things,

02:48but he actually deserves those things.

02:51Yeah.

02:51So I think one thing that you hit on, I think,

02:54is constantly lost in MVP conversations.

02:57If the Nuggets didn't have Jokic, they'd miss the playoffs.

02:59The gap between the Thunder and the Nuggets is almost 20 games.

03:04So, oh, yes, the Thunder would make the playoffs,

03:06but they would lose, like, 20 more games.

03:10So that doesn't work.

03:11The other thing with the voter fatigue is it's almost like a dirty thing.

03:14Like, oh, okay.

03:16If we want to go back in time and start handing out MVP,

03:19neither one of those guys have as many as they should.

03:25I don't know what it is about Nikola Jokic,

03:28seemingly Lamar Jackson a little bit for football fans,

03:32where every year we're just like, it's him.

03:38So I don't know.

03:38But last year we decided the award based on wins.

03:42Or three years ago we decided it was based on just triple-doubles.

03:48I don't – it's changing.

03:50It feels like they want to change it constantly.

03:53And I think that this is one of those things that ultimately feels –

04:00again, Jokic is having a great season.

04:02Jokic is having an unbelievable season.

04:05But it is not as if SGA is sneaking by here.

04:10If this was, respectfully, Donovan Mitchell, that's preposterous.

04:16He's not – I don't even think Donovan Mitchell has been the best Cav.

04:19Okay, but the Cav's record.

04:20I don't care about that.

04:21If you told me it was Jason Tatum.

04:23No, no, that's ridiculous.

04:26Tatum does not – Tatum is going to finish top five on the MVP ballot.

04:30He'll be first team all NBA.

04:31He's not in this race.

04:33It is required a phenomenal season out of Shea Gilgis-Alexander,

04:39and that is exactly what he has put forward here in order to win him the MVP.

04:45So that to me it is what it is.

04:48I'll take this chance then though to go a step further

04:52with where these guys stack up across this league.

04:58The consensus is Jokic is the best player in the world.

05:01We don't need to debate that point, right?

05:04I think that's, again, probably where everybody would land.

05:07My question is where you are on Shea Gilgis-Alexander relative to the rest of the NBA

05:12because I think we often look at the Thunder as this young, unproven team.

05:21But they, for me, check a box that the Rockets aren't close to checking.

05:28The Cavs probably can't check, which is they have one of the very, very, very, very,

05:33very best players in basketball.

05:35Yeah.

05:36I was the high man on SGA probably coming into the year.

05:39I viewed him as the second best player in the league, even ahead of Luka.

05:42He outplayed Luka in that series despite people rewriting history.

05:46I was the high man on SGA.

05:47I was the high man on SGA.

05:48I was the high man on SGA.

05:49I was the high man on SGA.

05:50I was the high man on SGA.

05:51I was the high man on SGA.

05:52I was the high man on SGA.

05:53I was the high man on SGA.

05:54I was the high man on SGA.

05:55I was the high man on SGA.

05:56I was the high man on SGA.

05:57I was the high man on SGA.

05:58I was the high man on SGA.

05:59I was the high man on SGA.

06:00I was the high man on SGA.

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