2024-25 NBA MVP Discussion Thread

[CobraCommander]

It's interesting that SGA avergd 30.7 ppg the last two seasons on .631 TS% and is currently at 26.5 on .581 TS%.

Makes you wonder how good OKC can be. What if his numbers normalize?

People called me crazy (okay, one person!) when I picked them over BOS in the preseason (kind of a coin flip, to be fair), but I sure ain't regretting it yet!

He just needs to stop forcing so many 3s. All of his numbers are consistent with last year's outside of him taking twice as many threes. He averaged 31.4 ppg in 2023 with less than one made 3 per game. Stick to your game, young blood.

I read they asked him to shoot more 3s which is interesting and must be based on some analytics.

Doing it early is good because he can always shoot less mid and late in the season.

[ThomYorke]

My top 5 so far

1) SGA
2) Tatum
3) Jokic
4) Booker
5) Davis

I expect by the end of the season Doncic, Curry and Wemby will be in and around the top 5

[CobraCommander]

My top 5 so far

1) SGA
2) Tatum
3) Jokic
4) Booker
5) Davis

I expect by the end of the season Doncic, Curry and Wemby will be in and around the top 5

Surprisingly Jokic is number 1 in per.,,.and once the nuggets start winning - he is going to win the mvp

[AleksandarN]

Technically tied for 4th is Denver down two starters AG and Murray. If the Nuggets are a top 3 team I don’t see how you don’t consider him for another MVP. Craziness

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[CobraCommander]

Technically tied for 4th is Denver down two starters AG and Murray. If the Nuggets are a top 3 team I don’t see how you don’t consider him for another MVP. Craziness

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

After he wins his 5th in a row we gonna rename it the “Jokic of the year award” THEN guys are going to actively start saying “at least I came in second!” As a status symbol.

[BigGargamel]

My top 5 so far

1) SGA
2) Tatum
3) Jokic
4) Booker
5) Davis

I expect by the end of the season Doncic, Curry and Wemby will be in and around the top 5

Are you basing your list on team records only? Because Jokic is absolutely crushing both SGA and Tatum. SGA is off to a slightly slow start by his standards, and Tatum...naah, he is what he is. A legit All Star on a stacked team but not an MVP player.

[pepe1991]

Jokić would probably prefer playing less and averaging less, but without him on the floor, Nuggets look like 25 wins team at most.

[Exp0sed]

Jokić would probably prefer playing less and averaging less, but without him on the floor, Nuggets look like 25 wins team at most.

25 wins? not even close..

after 7 games the Nuggets post an 122.9 ORTG with Jokic on the floor and 83.4 ORTG with Jokic off the court
conversly, they posted 114.4 DRTG with Jokic on the floor and 105 with him off

that's 29.9 Net rating over these 7 games!

the Nuggets without Jokic on the floor this season have a -22 Net rating, that's not the mark of a 25 wins team - that would be the mark of the worst team in the history of the NBA (by far)

obviously the numbers will normalize but so far that's what they say

[Jamaaliver]

Either Wemby and Sochan are terrible at basketball...or James Harden is the single greatest defender of his generation.

There is no other conclusion.

Read on Twitter

[ITYSL]

My top 5 so far

1) SGA
2) Tatum
3) Jokic
4) Booker
5) Davis

I expect by the end of the season Doncic, Curry and Wemby will be in and around the top 5

Are you basing your list on team records only? Because Jokic is absolutely crushing both SGA and Tatum. SGA is off to a slightly slow start by his standards, and Tatum...naah, he is what he is. A legit All Star on a stacked team but not an MVP player.

Thus far, I'd say the top three are Jokic, AD and Tatum, in that order. Giannis is right there too. SGA, like you said, has started slow. He and Luka might catch up at some point, but neither are having MVP seasons quite yet. It's still way too early.

[Mavrelous]

If SGA or Tatum finish with more than 10 wins better than Jokic, they should win, it's not 2022 when he had a G league level guards to work with.

[BruttoNostra]

Ok
You said by counting stats - he isn’t top 5 in any counting stats - any of them?

So how is he the counting stats mvp today?

I’m so confused bro-

Either way - if he does what he did today- play the most minutes in a blow out by 40 he will definitely be the mvp and too tired to win a chip

The first part of the bold text is correct, but misses details/context, the second part is not correct.
Doncic played 32 minutes. Yes, it's the most in the team, but it's still only 32 minutes and 3 other players played 28-29.
Luka was subbed out with 7:57 to play with 9 Rebs and 7 Asts - was he looking for a triple-double he could easily have pulled some prime Westbrook staff, totally avoiding shooting and hunting for assists for the next few minutes.

Mavs won by 23, not 40, and it was +29 when he was subbed out.
With 27 points lead heading into the last quarter, personally I would prefer him to rest in the final quarter, even if it means they will lose such a game once every 10-15 games (Mavs have enough 4th collapses the last couple of seasons), but first there is a reason I'm not an NBA coach, and second, he only player the first 4 minutes of the last quarter and then rested for good.

Can we finally stop those incorrect stat-padding notions?

Now, I'm not saying Doncic deserves any MVP recognition yet.
I even think it's better for him and Dallas to be far away from it, if the reason is he's well-rested and plays as many 32-minutes games as possible (after 37.5 MPG last season and increasing it every season of his career).

It was hyperbole for effect but if you watch the game he was playing a lot of worthless minutes against an enemy that had waved the white flag. The question is why?

He is young so he might just be out there balling for fun. Which is cool- if I had it rolling I would want to stay out there too.

My complaint isn’t about Luka it’s about managing his minutes to Minimize the risk of injury.

Like always he will be in the top 5 of the mvp votes.

Somewhere between 1-5

Jokic most likely winning it again-

Right now it’s AD, SGA, Tatum, Jokic…. Luka isn’t 5th yet

Again, he subbed out with 8 minutes to play - instead of the 12 you expected (?). Mavs are known to blow big leads, not sure what is a complain here.
And don't get me wrong, for me Luka isn't even in the top-15 in MVP ladder so far this season, it's fine. With the team improving its roster, I expected to him to take a backseat in FGA in favor of implementing new pieces to the team, even it means they lose a couple of more games (vs hero ball).

[Woodsanity]

My top 5 so far

1) SGA
2) Tatum
3) Jokic
4) Booker
5) Davis

I expect by the end of the season Doncic, Curry and Wemby will be in and around the top 5

Surprisingly Jokic is number 1 in per.,,.and once the nuggets start winning - he is going to win the mvp

With the dog **** roster they assembled and with Murray constantly hurt and now even Aaron Gordon hurt I really doubt they are going to "start winning" anything. Literally would be worse than the Wizards if Jokic got hurt.

[LeBronSpaghetti]

Who deserves it so far:

1. Jokic
2. AD
3. Tatum
4. SGA
5. Ant

Who the top contenders are in reality:

1. Tatum
2. SGA
3. Luka
4. Ant
5. Mitchell

[The-Power]

SGA is off to a slightly slow start by his standards, and Tatum...naah, he is what he is. A legit All Star on a stacked team but not an MVP player.

SGA is not actually off to a slow start all things considered, and Tatum is off to a terrific start. Both are well-deserving of being in the MVP consideration early on.

[ITYSL]

Again, he subbed out with 8 minutes to play - instead of the 12 you expected (?). Mavs are known to blow big leads, not sure what is a complain here.
And don't get me wrong, for me Luka isn't even in the top-15 in MVP ladder so far this season, it's fine. With the team improving its roster, I expected to him to take a backseat in FGA in favor of implementing new pieces to the team, even it means they lose a couple of more games (vs hero ball).

This hasn't happened, though, at least not yet. His FGAs are up more than anyone else on the team. Lively's are up, and Gafford's are up. Kyrie and PJ are down.

Doncic's been shooting as much as ever - his efficiency is just low thus far. I expect it will come back up soon later in the season - isn't that kind of the norm for him?

[jokeboy86]

Once again Jokic is going to make it hard for the voters and casual media to ignore him which is why they probably are praying that SGA and OKC maintain this pace for the whole season. I still see the only path for Jokic winning it is if the Nuggets win 55+ this year and that still may not be enough if OKC is the top seed

[reload141]

My top 5 so far

1) SGA
2) Tatum
3) Jokic
4) Booker
5) Davis

I expect by the end of the season Doncic, Curry and Wemby will be in and around the top 5

Are you basing your list on team records only? Because Jokic is absolutely crushing both SGA and Tatum. SGA is off to a slightly slow start by his standards, and Tatum...naah, he is what he is. A legit All Star on a stacked team but not an MVP player.

Jokic isn’t crushing SGA and Tatum.

[brackdan70]

Who deserves it so far:

1. Jokic
2. AD
3. Tatum
4. SGA
5. Ant

Who the top contenders are in reality:

1. Tatum
2. SGA
3. Luka
4. Ant
5. Mitchell

I don’t see why Edwards and Mitchell get mentioned with the others here?impact has been pretty pedestrian so far.

[QPR]

It's such a weird conversation. Jokic is on an island by himself when it comes both to who the best player and who the most valuable is. The gap to second in both is enormous. But if they're not winning enough he won't be considered.