In the sports world, but particularly among NBA fans, it’s not unusual to hear the word “snub.”
Per the Cambridge definition, a snub is “to insult someone by not giving them any attention or treating them as if they are not important.” To that point, when people use that term, the purpose behind it is black-and-white. There’s no question that they believe an incident has occurred in which someone was insulted because they weren’t recognized or treated with reverence.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was snubbed when the league announced the winner of the 2024 NBA MVP Award.
NBA Misses Mark with 2024 MVP Award Winner
On Wednesday, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic was named the Most Valuable Player of 2023-24. It’s the former second-round pick’s third time winning the award. Not bad for a player who people say doesn’t get enough respect.
The Nuggets (57-25) were second in the West with Jokic averaging a near triple-double and leading his team in scoring. In any MVP race, that would garner enough praise for candidacy. However, when comparing his impact to Gilgeous-Alexander’s this season, it’s not clear that he should have actually won.
SGA this season:
— 30/6/6/2
— First in 30-point games
— Most 30-point games since 2019 Harden
— Leading NBA in steals
— Top 3 in iso and transition points
— Best player on 1 seedMVP snub? pic.twitter.com/J04vWtcoON
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 8, 2024
Gilgeous-Alexander also led his team to a 57-25 record.
Yet, the Thunder entered the 2024 NBA Playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the West, winning a tiebreaker against the Nuggets. They didn’t achieve this through a do-or-die matchup or by flipping a coin. Oklahoma City simply beat Denver, 3-1, in their regular season series. For reference, that’s the same record they had against the Utah Jazz. The Jazz finished the season with a 31-51 record, 12th in the West.
The Thunder also broke the tiebreaker by having the better division record. Oklahoma City went 12-4 against the Northwest while the Nuggets went 10-6. This is largely due to their record against Denver and Utah in head-to-head matchups. Nonetheless, it’s worth noting that they were 2-2 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have won their first six games of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
A Closer Look at SGA’s Numbers
On an individual level, Gilgeous-Alexander was stupendous.
His wire-to-wire performance led him to averages of 30.1 points, 6.2 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game. He didn’t average under 26 points per game or shot below 46 percent from the field in any month. A crafty combo guard at 6-foot-6, Gilgeous-Alexander carried what recently became the youngest team to win a playoff series to the West’s mountaintop.
That language isn’t accidental. OKC’s leader at 25 years old, Gilgeous-Alexander’s scoring average was +11.0 points higher than the Thunder’s next-highest average. For reference, Jokic averaged just +5.2 more points than Jamal Murray in 2023-24. Murray had the Nuggets’ second-highest scoring average.
Indeed, Gilgeous-Alexander was just the better scorer in general, averaging 1.11 points per possession in isolation to Jokic’s 1.07. He even scored 1.19 points per possession on post-ups to Jokic’s 1.14 points per possession. A multi-positional defender who created chaos and made it difficult to get by him, Gilgeous-Alexander was better at the other end as well.
All things considered, the NBA really did give the wrong player the MVP. It’s sad to say because Jokic is truly one of the all-time greats.
The Last Word on the MVP Race
On a team full of playmakers, Gilgeous-Alexander doesn’t have as much responsibility as a facilitator as Jokic. Not possessing the Sombor center’s size, he’s not nearly as impactful on the boards. From that standpoint, Jokic has been more valuable. Nonetheless, he benefited from his ever-rising popularity in this race, and that’s ultimately why he won.
Not because he was a better rebounder or averaged +2.8 more assists per game.
