Shams Completely Cucked TNT By Leaking That Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Has Won The NBA's MVP Award Hours Before The Official Announcement

Luke Hales. Getty Images.

Well, so much for waiting for the highly anticipated TNT pre-game show! It's pretty comical what a clusterfuck this entire MVP announcement ended up being given that we had to wait FOREVER for the results to come out, and then on the day we finally learned that the results were coming later tonight, Shams just leaks the results 3 hours before the TNT announcement instead. I'm not sure who was in charge of this planning, but that feels like a fumble.

As I said this morning, everyone with a brain mostly knew this was where we were going to end up

if you followed the straw polls and media polling, so it's not like the formal announcement is some sort of surprise. It's also true that SGA was a more than worthy winner, even if you found yourself being on the Nikola Jokic side of the argument. I do think that gets lost a little bit whenever we talk about this stuff. It's not as if SGA wasn't deserving, it's not as if Jokic was "robbed" by a player who didn't have a worthy MVP profile, as both guys had very compelling cases. It's also unavoidable that many will do the "SGA foul baiting" routine as a way to invalidate his MVP, which is partially why waiting so long to announce this award was stupid. Especially coming off last night

In reality, what we saw in 2024-25 was one of the most dominant guard seasons in the history of the NBA. The consistency, with or without FTAs, was insane. 

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….Because he won MVP (and this would have applied to being named All-NBA this year), SGA is now eligible to sign a five-year $380M extension but would have to wait until the 2026 offseason.

Whenever the MVP comes up, it's always a struggle to come to a consensus of what "most valuable" actually means. There's no denying OKC's roster is incredible, both in terms of their starting 5 and their depth. This is where there are often some inconsistencies, especially when playing the "best player on best team" card. In previous years, we were told if you had an elite roster and had the best record, that should hurt your MVP chances because you have all this help. This year, that really wasn't a thing for whatever reason. Same thing with +/-, a lot of that has to do with OKC's overall roster than just an individual.

But there's also something to be said about being the #1 guy on a team like that. Being the driving force of that offense matters, but it's not exactly apples to apples when you compare rosters and responsibility between guys like SGA and say, Nikola Jokic. That was probably Jokic's biggest argument. SGA could afford to have an off night (he rarely did), Jokic couldn't even go to the bench for 2 minutes for rest. 

If you're a Luka Doncic Stan, something like this probably annoys you

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that's the thing about the MVP. Every year is different, and there is simply no consistency from season to season as to what people value/what dictates who should win. It's more of a narrative/vibe award some seasons, and that's never going to change. 

Again, while SGA had one of the best guard seasons in NBA history, Nikola Jokic had one of the best seasons in NBA player of any position….ever. Averaged 30/13/10, only player ever to be top 3 in scoring, rebounding, assists, has to carry a much worse supporting cast etc, his season this year was much better than some of his previous MVP seasons, so you can understand why some Nuggets fans might be a little pissed with this result, even if deep down they knew it was coming.

What I find interesting is that from here on out, something's going to have to give. As a firm believer in the 40/20 Rule and what it means about the eventual champion, OKC is the only 40/20 team left in the playoff field. Everything about their contender profile says they should be a lock to win the 2025 NBA title.

At the same time, not since Steph Curry in 2014-15 have we seen a current MVP win the title that same season. The MVP Curse has turned into a thing. It's no surprise that Jokic never won his titles in his MVP years, and then the season Embiid took his MVP, Jokic turned around and won his title. 

So basically, we're either going to see a non-40/20 team win the title for only like the 4th time in the last 47+ years, or we're finally going to see someone snap the 10 year long MVP Curse. Given how OKC is playing right now, I tend to think it's going to be the latter. Sure, it's true they still have a LONG way to go to make that happen, but from the start of the season in October until now, they've been the clear-cut best team in the NBA. The best point differential of all time, statistically one of the best defenses of all time, hit 40/20, and now the MVP.

Usually, per NBA history, that team tends to be the last one standing.