As the 2023-24 regular season winds down, the award races continue to heat up. The biggest one involves the MVP award, which is likely going to Nikola Jokic.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps’ recent MVP straw poll confirms that belief. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stayed at No. 2 with 626 points, fewer than Jokic’s 953 points.
The 25-year-old only has 10 first-place votes, far fewer than the two-time MVP’s 85 first-place votes.
The straw poll does an excellent job of forecasting the likely award winners. With this being the final straw poll, it looks like Jokic will run away with the award.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s subpar performances and absence with injuries in recent weeks have halted any momentum he had gathered this season as an MVP candidate. Instead, he’ll likely finish second.
In 71 games, Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged 30.3 points on 54% shooting, 6.3 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 steals. The Thunder (52-24) are one game behind first place in the Western Conference.
