RealGM

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is ahead of Nikola Jokic in ESPN's latest MVP straw poll. Gilgeous-Alexander received 70 first place votes and thirty second place votes. Jokic, who was first in the previous straw poll, received 30 first place votes, 69 second place votes and one third place vote. The two players are 122 points apart as the MVP race is now down to Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell round out the top-5.

Gilgeous-Alexander enters the All-Star break averaging 32.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.9 steals in 34.0 minutes per game. Gilgeous-Alexander also has a PER of 31.0. The Oklahoma City Thunder have the best Net Rating in the NBA and are tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the best record at 44-10

Jokic is averaging 29.8 points, 12.6 rebounds, 10.2 assists and 1.8 steals in 36.0 minutes per game. After a slow start to the season, the Denver Nuggets are now 36-19 and in third place in the Western Conference. 

Via Tim Bontemps/ESPN

lol at these homers...Sengun got a vote? REally?

If OKC gets the one seed in the West, SGA should be MVP.

the joker about to get robbed of another MVP

gabri3l3 wrote:the joker about to get robbed of another MVP

Actually he has one as a 6th seed he shouldn't of got..

gabri3l3 wrote:the joker about to get robbed of another MVP

uh no, jokic has one or two he shouldnt have gotten and wouldnt have gotten if it was a lesser liked player.. Ie james harden

harden has one but advanced metrics such as epm/raptor and bbindex can make a strong case he should have 3 pretty easily

jokic having 3 mvps is good, remmeber the nba didnt vote for lebron/jordan every year for mvp so its not like this precedent has not been done in the past

You can make a good faith argument for both, but if shai keeps OKC as the runaway #1 seed , it's hard to argue that he isn't deserving.

Imagine a clipper fan and seeing this. Ohhh the pain ahaha

The NBA needs to disqualify any media members that makes a public predictions about award winners. It is human nature to vote in a way that makes your prediction correct. This outcome was predetermined.

Luka was the overall favorite, followed by SGA, then Jokic. Luka is disqualified, so if OKC wins more games than DEN, SGA will win. Wins and preseason predictions are the only stats that matter. Counting stats, advanced stats, supporting cast... all irrelevant.