{"id":570718,"date":"2026-03-30T12:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T12:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/570718\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T12:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T12:45:07","slug":"shai-gilgeous-alexander-losing-mvp-could-be-worst-case-scenario-for-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/570718\/","title":{"rendered":"Shai Gilgeous-Alexander losing MVP could be worst case scenario for NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5i\">For the majority of the 2025-26 campaign, OKC Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been widely regarded as a shoo-in to win MVP honors, but recent movements have shaken the race up in a massive way.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5l\">All it took was Spurs center Victor Wembanyama <a href=\"https:\/\/thunderousintentions.com\/okc-thunder-victor-wembanyama-wannabe-kill-shot-slight-mvp-race\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">electing to vocally campaign for himself<\/a>, and the entire league has seemingly begun to reconsider whether SGA truly deserves the award.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5o\">Since then, Gilgeous-Alexander <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsbook.draftkings.com\/leagues\/basketball\/nba?category=awards&amp;subcategory=mvp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">has gone from<\/a> -1000 odds to win MVP to -275 over the span of a week. Statistically, nothing has changed for either player during that time.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5r\">The only change has been the dramatic shift in perspective caused by Wemby&#8217;s self-advocacy.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5u\">This movement puts the league in a precarious position, as SGA could realistically lose out on winning his second straight MVP title, all because a player is actively shouting out their accomplishments.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5x\"> In many ways, such a scenario could pave the way for a new brand of award that no fan wants to see.<\/p>\n<p>NBA fans better pray Thunder superstar wins what&#8217;s rightfully his<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">That movement may have already started, unfortunately, as Wemby&#8217;s Spurs teammate, Keldon Johnson, went on record to make\u00a0his\u00a0case for the Sixth Man of the Year award. He was asked during a recent appearance on NBA on Prime to state his case, to which he responded, &#8220;How can you not say I&#8217;m the Sixth Man of the Year?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"66\">The recent award advocacy is being spearheaded by members of the San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"69\">Coach Mitch Johnson&#8217;s team is young and exciting, and they have taken up their fair share of headlines this season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6c\">Dating back to their December domination of the Thunder, they have established themselves as the &#8220;trendy&#8221; underdog who may be destined to dethrone the champs. If their begging gets rewarded with numerous awards at year&#8217;s end, the league could head down a path that no one wants to see.<\/p>\n<p>A Wemby MVP win could send the NBA down a bad path<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6i\">The league is already in a dicey position in the sports world. On Friday, The Athletic published an article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7147363\/2026\/03\/26\/mlb-nba-2nd-place-american-sports-leagues\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">comparing the NBA and MLB<\/a> as the two sports competing for attention behind football. It cited play style, lack of defense, and recent sports gambling scandals as reasons the league is losing favor with its fans.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">On top of these current messes, the addition of the NBA&#8217;s coveted MVP trophy turning into the &#8220;most popular&#8221; award in a yearbook could prove too much for fans to handle.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6o\">While some voters have already voiced their endorsement of Wembanyama, the rest should think long and hard about what they wish to see their league turn into. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the same player he was last week, yet he is quickly falling out of favor with NBA pundits.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6r\">The remaining few weeks of the season come with major potential implications, and time will tell what fate the NBA chooses for itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the majority of the 2025-26 campaign, OKC Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been widely regarded as a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-570718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}