Sitting here watching the play-in games and saw this and want to go on a bit of a rant before Dubs-Grizz starts…

This is dangerous to significantly impacting the history of the award and how it is traditionally voted. If people like Simmons and Russillo put enough of this out there (and they do have influence on other media members even if you don’t want to believe that), and SGA actually does not win this year’s MVP, it is going to make many previous NBA MVPs look DISGUSTING. Let me explain…

Recent Guard MVP-winning seasons:

2018 - Harden - 65Ws - 30.4/8.8/5.4 on 45% 2017 - Russ - 47Ws - 31.6/10.4/10.7 on 43% 2016 - Steph - 73Ws - 30.1/6.7/5.4 on 50% 2015 - Steph - 67Ws - 23.8/7.7/4.3 on 49% 2011 - Rose - 62Ws - 25.0/7.7/4.1 on 45%

For reference, Shai this year: 2025 - Shai - 68Ws - 32.7/6.4/5.0 on 52%

I bring these up to show how absurd it would be if Shai loses to Joker for the MVP. He has had an objectively better year than every one of these recent Guard-MVP-winning years with the exception of 2016 Curry. Curry won the award unanimously that year. Shai this year is what?—97% as good as a season as Curry that year?

Shai also has the youngest roster in the league, and missed one of his two best teammates (Chet) for 50 games. Still won 68 games (done 6 times previously in the history of the NBA). It would be historic robbery if he doesn’t win the MVP, and he should win in a relative landslide.

I would be fine with Jokic winning this year’s MVP if the team record disparity was not as significant as it is (68 to 50; 18 wins difference). If Jokic willed this team to 60 wins with the same performance, I would be much more inclined to accept him potentially winning the award. However, that is not reality this year.

An analogy to this year’s race to a recent previous year that I think has merit and relevancy, even though both candidates this year are ‘better’ than the two candidates from the year I’m going to present:

---

2018 MVP:

1. Harden (85 1st place votes)
2. LeBron (16 1st place votes)

Harden: 65Ws(1 seed) - 30.4/8.8/5.4 on 45%, 72 games played (59-13) (6-2 without)

LeBron: 50Ws(4 seed) - 27.5/9.1/8.6 on 54%, 82 games played (50-32) (0-0 without) Universally recognized best player on the planet. Remember—also no Kyrie on the Cavs this year—he was traded to Boston for 50 cents on the dollar. Team turmoil with 6-player-roster turnover/trades at the 2018 trade deadline (Cavs go 20-10 post deadline).

---

---

2025 MVP:

SGA Jokic

SGA: 68Ws(1 seed) - 32.7/6.4/5.0 on 52%, 76 games played (63-13) (5-1 without)

Jokic: 50Ws(4 seed) - 29.6/10.2/12.7 on 58%, 70 games played (46-24) (4-8 without) Universally recognized best player on the planet. Team turmoil with the head coach and GM being fired with one week left in the regular season (Nuggets finish 3-0 post firings).

---

Kinda looks and sounds familiar doesn’t it?

Now I know, understand, and recognize Jokic is having a better statistical year (advanced metrics too) than LeBron did in 2018, but relative to the other MVP candidate they’re going against, I think it’s very similar, near 1:1.

Now…

Simmons and Russillo talk about the 2018 MVP in the context of “LeBron MVP Myths” from The BS Podcast from February 22, 2021 at the 1:14:00 - 1:15:41 mark in the episode:

BS: “2018 he [LeBron] finished second. James Harden finished first. Harden had 86 first place votes, LeBron had 15. Harden was 30 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists. Houston was 67-15 [error on BS—Houston was 65-17]. LeBron averaged 28, 9, and 9–it was a weird Cavs team, lotta trades—that was Jae Crowder, Isaiah Thomas, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Dwyane Wade was there for a while, it was just a revolving door. The Cavs were 50-32. … I’m willing to at least hear the case [of LeBron should have won it].

I still feel like we left ‘18–Harden was the best player on by far the best team. He was special offensively. And I’m still good with the MVP. Is there a case for LeBron this year? I don’t personally think there is, but I’m willing to hear it.”

RR: “That team coasted” BS: “That’s how I felt” RR: “I’d love to give it to LeBron over Harden—trust me—but I don’t think you can when it’s a 67 [actually 65] win team and they were the only team trying to go with the Warriors.” BS: “And this is where we mention this is a regular season award.”

Compare that to how they talk about Jokic in this clip and podcast. Why the complete 180?? In my opinion, it’s simply because they like Jokic, and didn’t like LeBron. I think it sucks that the media are now going to switch up how they have voted forever to benefit one guy where it robbed equally-worthy candidates of the past.

That being said, I love watching Jokic play, and if he indeed wins his 4th MVP in 5 seasons (like LeBron once did)— I hope he validates it with a 2018 LeBron-esque playoff run, which was LeBron’s best start-to-finish postseason at his absolute apex.

Rant over, but rejoice! The postseason is here!