After a day off, the [Golden State Warriors](https://www.goldenstateofmind.com) are back in action tonight, but the off day gave me some time to reflect on one of the most fascinating questions in the NBA this year: who should win MVP?
It’s hard to remember a year where it was such an intense two-player race, but that’s the excitement we have this year. In one corner, three-time MVP Nikola Jokić, the do-everything center of the Denver Nuggets who does things on a nightly basis that we’ve never seen before. In the other corner, slithery and creative point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the leader of a shockingly-dominant Oklahoma City Thunder squad.
Both players have stats befitting an MVP, and then some. Jokić, who won the award last year, finished runner-up the year before, and won the two years prior, is in line to average a triple-double, with 29.1 points, 12.8 rebounds, and 10.3 assists per game, all while shooting 41.3% from three-point range. For context, he’s top-three in the NBA in points, rebounds, and assists, which is truly unlike anything we’ve ever seen.
Not to be outdone, SGA — last year’s runner-up to Jokić — leads the league with 33.0 points per game, while also adding 5.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game, and anchoring a team that is top-five offensively _and_ defensively.
In basic stats, Jokić comes out on top, but Gilgeous-Alexander has the edge with some old-school factors: while the Nuggets are firmly in the playoff picture in the West, SGA’s Thunder squad has ran off with the conference: OKC is a whopping 12.5 games ahead of the next-best team in the West, and 13.5 games ahead of Denver. And on top of that, Gilgeous-Alexander has missed just three games this year, while Jokić has missed eight (and perhaps counting, as he’s sat the last few contests).
It’s a close enough contest that we might just have to wait and see how the next few weeks shake out before making a decision.
### **Who should win NBA MVP this year?**