This NBA season is nearly complete. Every team around the Association has fewer than 10 games remaining on the schedule. There’s still plenty to be won down the stretch; most playoff spots still must be clinched and battles for seeding in both conferences will be fierce, potentially up until the final game of the regular season on April 12. Despite the season winding down, however, the MVP race has never been hotter.
For much of this season Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been the favorite to go back-to-back and win a second consecutive MVP. Nikola Jokić figured to be his only primary source of competition but lost momentum after missing a month with a hyperextended knee. There were upstart candidates like Jaylen Brown in Boston and Cade Cunningham in Detroit yet it was still largely considered a two-horse race that became SGA’s to lose after Jokić got hurt.
