“Jokic is mind-boggling how he can post better numbers than previous MVP seasons but there is a strong possibility that voter fatigue will finally catch up to him,” SuperBook head NBA oddsmaker Jeff Sherman told Only Players via text. “SGA holds a strong position as a healthy favorite, mainly due to the Thunder’s dominance in the West.”

We're past the midway point of the 2024-25 NBA season with the Thunder sitting atop the Western Conference. Here's how OKC graded out in the first half of the season.

This stretch of January around Martin Luther King Jr. Day is usually peak evaluation time in the NBA front-office world. It’s one of the milestone points where teams will have full-staff pow-wows and talk things out,

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has his 27th 30 point game of the season. Most 30 point games in the NBA. SGA has scored 30+ in 61.4% of his games.Source: Twitter @BrandonRahbar

In mid-December, Denver’s Nikola Jokic had a healthy lead on Gilgeous-Alexander in ESPN’s MVP straw poll, conducted several times over the course of each season by Tim Bontemps.

Pierce believes SGA has elevated his performance to a whole new level this season, positioning him as a strong contender for the MVP title.