Analyst at The Ringer thinks SGA’s MVP season is finally upon us

With the 2024-25 NBA season around the corner, one of the most fiery debates that dominates headlines is who will take home the league MVP award. Even throughout the majority of the offseason, many in the basketball world went back and forth over who the rightful MVP of the 2023-24 season was.

Although Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic took home the award, the third of his career, many felt the winner should have been Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the 26-year-old Oklahoma City Thunder point guard, who assembled the best season of his six-year career.

Last season was the second year in a row Shai garnered MVP votes and was named to the All-NBA First Team. With the Thunder rattling off 57 wins and the top spot in the Western Conference, the point guard had certainly met the criteria historically met by winners of the award. Since the Thunder are slated to take an even greater step forward next season, many feel the award is SGA’s to lose.

Analyst at The Ringer votes SGA

In a recent podcast episode, Pausha Haghighi of The Ringer joined Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Austin Rivers to discuss which player is best positioned to take home the Michael Jordan Trophy in 2025. While Rivers submitted his vote for Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic, the analyst thinks Shai’s time will finally arrive.

"I think [he] has a really good chance,” Haghighi says of Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP odds next season. “I think Shai’s gonna have the best chance. I think he is my pick because [the Thunder are] probably gonna be the No. 1 seed. People feel that he should have got it last year. I think the voters love the, ‘Ok, we didn’t give it to him last year.’ It’s like when Joel [Embiid] won [the MVP]. … I think Shai, if [the Thunder are] the No. 1 seed again, they just can’t pass him up again.”

Voters indeed reward consistent candidates in the race. Barring the unforeseen, next season will be the third year in a row Shai will garner significant MVP consideration. Other virtually certain candidates will be Jokic, Doncic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, among a few others. In terms of new faces, it’ll come down between Luka and Shai.

Given the Mavericks point guard’s track record on the career he is pacing to have, if the race comes down to him and the Thunder star, we can safely predict the MVP will land in the Slovenian’s hands. With five All-NBA First Team selections in a mere six seasons, No. 77 is arguably the better player between the guards and is certainly due for the award.

That said, SGA is better positioned to have a much better regular season when factoring in team success. Oklahoma City is widely favored to win more games than Dallas, in large part because of the superstar offseason it just had. Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein can help lift the Thunder to a 60+ win season. If Gilgeous-Alexander posts his routine averages of 30+ points per game, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and is uber-efficient from the field, the tug-of-war MVP race will likely end in his favor.

Related: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander recognized among NBA's best No. 1 options