NBA MVP Chase: Who’s #2?

 

Photo: Public Domain

The Cavaliers and Thunder are in first place in the Eastern and Western conferences respectively, each with a six-game lead over the second-place team. Thus, it’s not surprising that these teams have MVP Chase candidates.

But one player, the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is running away with the MVP Chase and will likely win my MVP vote if he stays healthy and the Thunder keep winning at a high rate.

In the NBA MVP Chase, I look at players who are shown to be proficient offensively (a Player Efficiency Rating -PER- of 20 or more) and counted the number of “MVP games” in which:

• The player’s team won
• The player had a +/- of 10 or more, or…
• When the player’s +/- is less than 10, the sum of Minutes Played (MP) plus +/-is 40 or more (for example, 36 MP and a +/- of 6 is 42).

As of the games completed through January 17, 2024, Shai had 29 MVP games. Three others are tied for a distant second at 23. I ranked them by how many more games they had a high MP plus +/- near 40. For example. Jayson Tatum had three games with MP plus +/- at 38 or 39; Evan Mobley had two such games, and Karl-Anthony Towns had none. Therefore, that’s how I’m ranking them.

Here are the Top Five in the MVP Chase, meaning this is the order I would fill out my hypothetical MVP ballot right now:

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder, 29 MVP games
2. Jayson Tatum, Celtics, 23
3. Evan Mobley, Cavaliers, 23
4. Karl-Anthony Towns, Knicks, 23
5. Darius Garland, Cavaliers, 21

Trailing Garland at 20 are Jarrett Allen, also of the Cavaliers, Jalen Brunson of the Knicks, and Nicola Jokic of the Nuggets.

The conversation for the rest of the regular season may well be, “Who will be second on the MVP ballot?”

James Leroy Wilson writes The MVP Chase (subscribe). Thank you for your subscriptions and support! Contact James for writing, editing, research, and other work at jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com.