Shaquille O’Neal livid, believes Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was snubbed for MVP
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Shaquille O’Neal earned a big spot in Canada’s good books on Wednesday.
The hoops legend and NBA on TNT analyst planted his flag and argued passionately in favour of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, saying that the Canadian guard was snubbed for MVP.
After Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic was named the MVP for the third time in his career, Shaq went on a spirited rant explaining why he disagreed with the results.
“I don’t like to rain on people’s parades, but I’m not happy with this one,” O’Neal said. “Congratulations to Joker, you are the best big man in the league, but based on everybody’s criteria, my criteria, stats … No. 1 seed, which team had the better record, I felt Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] deserved it.”
His complaints did fall on deaf ears. Though Jokic earned the majority share of first-place votes, picking up 79 of the possible 99, Gilgeous-Alexander got the top nod from 15 voters to help him finish second in total points.
The Hamilton, Ont. native put in some serious work this season, averaging 30.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 2.0 steals and 0.9 blocks a game, establishing himself as one of the best two-way players in the league.
Perhaps more notably though, his efforts helped carry the Oklahoma City Thunder from a 10th-place finish and a play-in elimination last year to the first seed in the Western Conference and a 57-25 record, their best since the 2013-14 season.
The Thunder have been on the rise since Gilgeous-Alexander started seeing his star-level grow, as they increased their win total by double-digits for the second straight year.
In that time, the 25-year-old has upped his numbers in every major statistical category and has even managed to increase his efficiency despite a growing role. His 53.5 field goal percentage and 63.6 true shooting percentage are the highest of his career.
His consistency was record-breaking as he scored 30 or more points 51 times to break Kevin Durant’s franchise record and falling just shy of Kobe Bryant’s 56 from the 2005-06 season.
“The fact that he has to start all over next year and try to win it again … I know this is gonna be hurtful for him,” O’Neal said. “Hopefully, he uses this to motivate him and win a championship.”
He’s also become something of an advanced stats darling, as he ranked in the top-4 league-wide in player efficiency rating (29.9), win shares (14.6), box plus/minus (9.0) and value over replacement player (7.1).
It just so happens that the guy to beat him out, Jokic, is first in all of those metrics.
The Thunder had the ninth-youngest roster in the NBA, coming in at 25.2, however, not a single one of their starting five was above the age of 25.
Despite their inexperience, Oklahoma City coasted through the first round of the playoffs, sweeping the Pelicans, and are currently up 1-0 in the second round against the Dallas Mavericks and Luka Doncic, another one of the finalists for MVP.