Poll: NBA players pick Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as MVP
If the players’ votes are any indication — and they usually are — then the silky smooth Thunder star is on his way to a second straight Michael Jordan Trophy. He didn’t just top our player polling; he nearly doubled the support of the second-place finisher, Denver’s Nikola Jokic. And therein lies the irony of it all.
While Wembanyama’s choice to spotlight himself appeared to help his cause with the oddsmakers (he’s currently second behind SGA), he didn’t even crack the top five in the players’ vote. But that, as much as anything, is a testament to the strength of the field rather than an indictment of the Spurs phenom’s candidacy. This group is just that great.
And Gilgeous-Alexander, in the eyes of most, is the best of them all. Again . The 27-year-old Gilgeous-Alexander is second in the league in scoring (31.
1 points per game), with a field-goal percentage (55. 3) that dwarfs that of the league’s leading scorer (fellow MVP candidate/ Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic, who is averaging 33. 5 points per game on 47.
6 shooting). And for all the focus on his controversial ability to get to the line, it’s merely one of the many ways that Gilgeous-Alexander decimates defenses. New York Times This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Poll: NBA players pick Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as MVP