Shocking New MVP Award Rankings Revealed

The regular season is in the books, and accredited voters are casting their ballots for the major NBA awards. All season long, the clear frontrunner for MVP has been former two-time winner, and defending NBA champion, Nikola Jokic. A recent ESPN straw poll of 100 voters even suggested that the Nuggets big man was well on his way to winning his third MVP.

But something happened on the way to the close of the regular season. The Oklahoma City Thunder stormed their way to 1st place in the Western Conference, led, of course, by their own MVP candidate, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. And according to the new rankings, that team accomplishment might be enough to sway the tide.

https://t.co/Fg4BBNOMHx moved SGA to No.1 on their MVP rankings 👀 pic.twitter.com/xDDM07AtcU
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 17, 2024

SGA is now the frontrunner in the official nbaawardtracker.com rankings, overtaking Jokic who now sits in second, with the Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic in third.

According to its own website, NBA Awards Tracker reflects "aggregates of the league's top metrics and predictions to provide fans a more accurate look at who is leading each award race."

The move to top spot for Shai comes one day after he led his team to a 135-86 blowout win over the Dallas Mavericks to secure OKC that top seed in the West.

On the season, SGA finished by averaging 30.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 6.2 assists, and 2.0 steals. He also shot 53.5% from the floor, an incredible number for a guard who shoots so often.

To be clear, however, major sportsbooks such as FanDuel, bet365, and DraftKings suggest that Jokic is still the heavy favorite to win the award.