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The 24-25 NBA Most Valuable Player race came into view on Sunday and Monday as the Oklahoma City Thunder hosted the Denver Nuggets for a pair of games on back-to-back days. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the favorite to win the award, but Nikola Jokic is making an argument for winning his fourth MVP in five seasons.

“This is my third or fourth year in a row, so I’m really – I don’t know. I cannot control it,” Jokic said. “Obviously, I think I’m playing the best basketball of my life. So if that’s enough, it’s enough. If not, the guy deserves it. He’s really amazing.”

The one season out of the previous four that Jokic didn’t win it, he largely punted down the stretch of the regular season to rest for the Nuggets’ run to the 2023 championship. Jokic finished second behind Joel Embiid.

“Obviously, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a great player, and if he wins his first MVP, he’s deserving of that,” Michael Malone said. “My thing is this: If you didn’t know that Nikola won three MVPs, and I put Player A and Player B on paper … the guy that was averaging a triple-double, the guy that is top-three in the three major statistical categories, things that no one has ever done, he wins the MVP 10 times out of 10. And if you don’t think so, I think you guys are all bulls-ting.”

Gilgeous-Alexander leads the NBA in scoring while also contributing significantly on defense for the Thunder, who are up 11 games on the second place Nuggets.

“If Shai wins it, I’ll actually clap my hands and be happy for him because he’s such a great guy who’s a great player who’s good for this game,” Malone said. “So it’s not Nikola versus Shai. For me, it’s me promoting my guy because I know what he means to this game.”