Malones Shift: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Emerges as the Clear Favorite for MVP

As the NBA playoffs heat up and the season winds down, the MVP race between two of the league's most dynamic players has been a hot topic of discussion: Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić. Two months ago, Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone had a different opinion on the matter, but now, as he analyzes the Western Conference finals on ESPN, his stance has shifted. In March, when Malone was still the head coach of the Nuggets, he spoke to The Athletic about the two-man race. "Obviously, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a great player, and if he wins his first MVP, he’s deserving of that," Malone said. "My thing is this: If you didn’t know that Nikola won three MVPs, and I put Player A and Player B on paper...the guy that was averaging a triple-double, the guy that is top-three in the three major statistical categories, things that no one has ever done, he wins the MVP 10 times out of 10." However, just two months later, Malone's opinion had changed. During the Western Conference finals on ESPN, he praised Gilgeous-Alexander for his performance in the second half of the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. "Shai Gilgeous-Alexander showed why he’s the MVP. He took over in a very efficient manner and put the team on his back when they needed him to do so," Malone said. The change in Malone's opinion is not surprising given the postseason masterpiece that Gilgeous-Alexander put on. In OKC's series opener against the Timberwolves, he scored 31 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals in a 114-88 win. Despite this impressive performance, Gilgeous-Alexander was an overwhelming -3000 favorite at BetMGM to win the MVP award before the playoffs began. While Malone's shift in opinion may have been unexpected to some, it's not an insult to Jokić for him to say Gilgeous-Alexander is the MVP. Jokić himself didn't seem too interested in the discourse when the Nuggets faced the Thunder in the playoffs. The Nuggets fired Malone with only three games left in the regular season, making him the latest in-season firing in NBA history. Despite this last-minute change to interim coach David Adelman, the Nuggets still dispatched the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round and pushed the Thunder to seven games before ultimately losing to the team with the best record in the NBA at 68-14. Regardless of your opinion on the MVP race, it's clear that both Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokić have put in impressive performances this season. The debate may have raged throughout the final months of the regular season, but now that it's come down to this point in the playoffs, it's clear that one player has emerged as a clear favorite to win the award.