The regular season has come to a close in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and with that come talks of who should be the winner of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Last season the award was given to Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid, but it will be going into different hands this time around. The top five are currently, Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum. I personally think that the first three names that I mentioned are the only ones that have any chance of actually winning the award.
Nikola Jokic, a nearly seven foot tall center for the Denver Nuggets, has arguably been the best player in the league over the last four seasons. While he did not bring home the MVP last year, he finished in second and won it the two prior seasons. He has a good chance of winning his third this season. Jokic averaged 26.5 points per game, 12.3 rebounds and 9 assists. He also averaged just over two blocks and steals per game, as well as having one of the highest field goal percentages in the league. He has led the Nuggets to a tie for the best record in the Western Conference, where they will get the No. 2 seed going into the playoffs.
Another guy who is right there next to Jokic is Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He truly broke out into the season with a tremendous season last year, but has followed that up with an even better one this time around. Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.1 points per game, 6.2 assists, 5.5 rebounds and led the league in steals with two. He also scored at an especially efficient rate for a guard, shooting just over 53%. On top of the great stats that he has put up, he has also led one of the biggest single season turnarounds that we have ever seen in the NBA. Last season the Thunder went 40-42 and missed out on the playoffs, and this year they finished with a record of 57-25 that got them first place in the Western Conference. They did all of this while having the second youngest roster in the NBA. While they added some needed pieces like rookie Chet Holmgren, Gilgeous-Alexander has been the lead horse on the Thunder’s terrific season.
The last guy who is truly in the discussion is Luka Doncic. Doncic has been putting up elite numbers since he got into the league, but this just might be the year that the Dallas Mavericks forward finally takes home the MVP. From a statistical standpoint, Doncic has been the most dominant player in the league this season. He led the league in scoring with 33.9 points per game, was second in assists with 9.8 and also averaged 9.2 rebounds. His points per game is top 20 in a single season all time, and matching that with almost 10 assists is not something you will see often. While Doncic has not brought his team to as good of a record as the other two guys, the Mavericks have still been one of the better teams this year. They finished the season with a record of 50-32, which was good enough for a fifth place finish in the Western Conference. I talked about the turnaround that the Thunder made being impressive, but the Mavericks had an impressive turnaround as well. They missed the playoffs last season with a record of 38-44.
At the end of the day, all three of these guys have had great seasons, but I think that the award should be given to Luka Doncic. He has put up numbers that we have almost never seen. The one guy who has come close to these statistical numbers is James Harden in 2018. Harden won the MVP that season, and Doncic still has higher averages this year in almost every statistical category than he did. The award is not all about statistics, but when you are putting up numbers as good as Doncic did this year, it can not be ignored. Coupled with a nice turnaround from a disappointing end to the season for the Mavericks last year, I think this is the year Doncic finally brings home the hardware.
