NBA Award Tracker Dubs Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as MVP in Recent Update

Could Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pull together a late MVP push?

Apr 14, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) / Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA regular season is a thing of the past and the Play-In Tournamnet is well underway. With this, award voting has been happening across the league. While early returns would suggest Nikola Jokic is well on his way to a third Most Valuable Player selection of his career, the NBA Award Tracker saw an update that puts Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ahead of him for the award.

With votes being cast, this essentially means nothing for the race. As of Tuesday, only Kendrick Perkins and Stephen A. Smith, two media personalities for ESPN, gave Gilgeous-Alexnader their first-place MVP vote. Plenty more votes have been confirmed from voters giving their first-place pick to Jokic. The two teams tied for the top record in the Western Confernce, with the Thunder holding the tie breaker.

Still, the NBA Award Tracker, which compiles their data from various rankings and metrics to determine award winners -- the same tool that has Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault winning NBA Coach of the Year.

Gilgeous-Alexander has an incredible resume for the season, averaging 30.1 points, 6.2 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 54 percent from the field. The numbers alone are worthy of Gilgeous-Alexander being in the MVP race, especially when factoring in his defensive impact. The team also won 57 games, which, as mentioned, tied the Nuggets in the win/loss column.

Jokic's 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists per game averages are just as incredible, and with his team being No. 2 in the Western Confernce, his argument is just as strong as Gilgeous-Alexander's.

It'll be interesting to watch who ends up winning the award and what the voting splits turn out to be. Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic is also averaging video game-like numebrs while carrying the offensive load for his team, making a strong case for the award himself.

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