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This week we’re breaking down the top MVP candidates — reigning winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, multi-time winner Nikola Jokić, and megastar Victor Wembanyama. Luka Dončić was in the plans until he suffered a hamstring injury that may make him ineligible for any awards.
This series is less about who I think should win — I’ll reveal that on Friday’s episode of The Dunker Spot — and more about helping others either bolster their arguments for their favorite candidate, or understand the legitimacy of the other cases.
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After examining the Jokić case on Tuesday, let’s talk SGA.
All stats are updated through games played on April 8.
Tale of the tape
OKC record: 56-12 (82.4% win rate, 68-win pace); 8-4 without him (55-win pace)
Notable per-game rankings (min. 50 games): 2nd in scoring, 17th in assists
Notable advanced stats: 1st in Win Shares per 48, 1st in estimated plus-minus (EPM), 2nd in offensive estimated plus-minus (O-EPM), 3rd in LEBRON
The basic case: Who’s been more consistently unstoppable?
There’s a level of inevitability with all of the major candidates. Jokić will diagnose your defense and create advantages at a historic level. Wemby will warp the court on both ends in a way no other player has.
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I’ve been struggling with a way to simplify SGA’s case in this way, aside from invoking the name of the (arguable) GOAT — so I’m just going to stop struggling.
SGA’s blend of interior scoring dominance, coverage-bending due to that dominance and context-proof winning is the closest thing we’ve seen to Michael Jordan.
Full stop.
(Hayden Hodge/Yahoo Sports illustration)
There have been 21 seasons where a player has averaged 30 or more points on 60% true shooting or better, while his team wins 60% or more of their games. SGA, Jordan and James Harden are the only players to do so three times; SGA and Harden are the only ones to do it three times in a row.
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Modestly increase the marks to more closely resemble what SGA is doing this year — let’s call it 65% true shooting (he’s at 66.5%, a whopping 8.6 percentage points above league average) and 70% win…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/the-definitive-mvp-argument-for-shai-gilgeous-alexander-192602263.html
Author : Nekias Duncan
Publish date : 2026-04-09 19:26:00
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