NBA MVP Rankings: The top 5 contenders in the award race at the start of the new year

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(Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

Happy New Year! We’re nearly at the midway point of the NBA season, and a lot has changed since the last time we checked in on the awards race.

Today, let’s take a look specifically at MVP. In my opinion, there are three serious contenders vying for first place: former multi-time winners Nikola Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo, plus Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looking for his first trophy. Everyone else is more likely fighting for fourth or fifth place, unless something dramatically changes soon.

And things could. On Christmas, Luka Dončić suffered a calf injury that’ll render him ineligible for awards. He would have had a chance, but he will not reach the 65-game requirement. Dončić has already missed 11 games, and the expectation in Dallas is that he’ll be sidelined until late February or even March, so he’ll be way out of the running for his first MVP award and thus isn’t included in today’s exercise.

Let’s get to it, starting with my current favorite to be the 2024-25 NBA MVP:

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder

Oklahoma City is on a 69-win pace, despite losing Isaiah Hartenstein to start the season and Chet Holmgren for the majority of it. The main reason is simple: Gilgeous-Alexander, dominating on both ends and pushing his team to heights no one can match. When SGA is on the floor, the Thunder annihilate opponents, outscoring them by 16.7 points per 100 possessions. Take him off, and they’re a league-average team with a -0.2 net rating.

Last season, Gilgeous-Alexander finished second in MVP voting, posting monstrous scoring numbers. This year, he’s even better. SGA is taking a higher volume of 3s off the dribble (2.6 last year to 5.5 this year), and making more 3s off the catch (35.6% last year to 52.2% this year). But what really gives him the nod over Jokić, who’s better than ever offensively? And over Antetokounmpo, who’s dragging his team to victories? Defense.

SGA ranks seventh in the NBA in steals per game, is tied with Derrick White for the lead in blocks by a guard, and constantly churns out the type of hustle plays coaches dream their…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-mvp-rankings-the-top-5-contenders-in-the-award-race-at-the-start-of-the-new-year-150955714.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-01-02 15:09:00

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