As the 2024-25 regular season enters its last week, the MVP race is all but over. Sitting atop the NBA's MVP ladder for a third straight week, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on his way to capture the prestigious trophy for the first time in his career.
Gilgeous-Alexander has been the NBA's best player. He's had one of the best-scoring campaigns ever. Pair that with the Oklahoma City Thunder's historic dominance, this is about as textbook of an MVP case as there has been in league history.
The NBA's MVP ladder always sparks discourse. After moving Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic up and down for weeks, Shaun Powell has firmly placed the former as the MVP favorite in these final stages of the regular season.
"He leads the league in 50, 40, 30 and 20-point games. He scores with solid efficiency. And he’s one of the two best defenders on the league’s best defensive team," Powell wrote. "That two-way balance, coupled with OKC bearing down on 65-plus wins, comprises an MVP. Whether he actually gets the award will be revealed next month."
All signs point toward Gilgeous-Alexander capturing the MVP award. In fact, ESPN's recent straw poll suggests it's closer to being a unanimous vote than a heated two-player race decided by the final counts. With only a week left, there's not much Jokic can do to alter that outcome.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander remains in top spot of NBA's MVP ladder
