On Monday night, Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander walked off the floor as the clear hero of a tightly contested victory over the Denver Nuggets. SGA finished the night with 35 points and 15 assists, and he also became the first NBA player since 2018 to put up those counting stats without committing a turnover. For good measure, Gilgeous-Alexander buried the game-winner in the final seconds, and he did so while giving his chief MVP competitor, Nikola Jokić, a loss in the NBA standings.
Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to dominate the Western Conference, sitting three games ahead of any chasing team.
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander delivered a 35-point, 15-assist performance without a single turnover, defeating Nikola Jokić in a pivotal matchup.
- This victory strengthened SGA's in the MVP race as the season approaches its critical final stretch.
SGA GAME-WINNER VS. THE NUGGETS 🎯🔥 pic.twitter.com/KP6U0RXSW7
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 10, 2026
After that stellar performance in what was the 126th (!) straight game for Gilgeous-Alexander with at least 20 points, it is time for a check-in on the MVP race with an unsurprising name at the top of the list.
1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Gilgeous-Alexander was already the betting favorite to win the NBA MVP award before Monday, but the gap has widened as a result of a head-to-head win over Jokic and the late-game heroics. In fact, Gilgeous-Alexander's biggest "competition"' for the award may be the 65-game threshold. He has appeared in 54 of OKC's 66 games this season, so Gilgeous-Alexander is still safely on pace to qualify. If he does, it would almost be hard to see a world in which he doesn't win.
It certainly helps Shai that the Thunder are 51-15 and leading the Western Conference by three games. Beyond that, he is averaging 31.7 points, 6.6 assists (career high), and 4.5 rebounds per game with 55/38/90 shooting splits, and Gilgeous-Alexander tied Wilt Chamberlain for the all-time record in consecutive 20-point games. It wouldn't be accurate to call SGA "a lock" by any means, but he is a huge favorite right now.
2. Nikola Jokić
On a per-game basis, it would be very reasonable to argue that Jokić has been the best player in the NBA this season. He is averaging 28.9 points per game but, more impressively, Jokić leads the league in both rebounds (12.5) and assists (10.3) while performing as the most efficient scorer (68.1 percent true shooting) in the league.
With that said, the Nuggets are 11.5 games behind the Thunder in the standings, and Jokić has played fewer games and minutes than Gilgeous-Alexander. The head-to-head result on Monday might've swung things in SGA's favor, but Jokić was already trending at number two in the race even before that game. In many, many seasons, Jokić would be the clear leader, but SGA has been tremendous enough to keep him out of the top spot.
3. Victor Wembanyama
Wembanyama is the best defensive player in the NBA, full stop. That isn't usually a prerequisite for MVP consideration, but because the gap between Wembanyama and everyone else is significant, he really jumps to the forefront. From there, Wembanyama is averaging 23.9 points and 11.1 rebounds per game, leading the league in defensive rebound rate (33.0 percent) to go along with his video game numbers in blocked shots.
Moreover, the Spurs have been outstanding this season, and Wembanyama is the biggest reason for the team's breakout. In 1,456 minutes with the big man on the court, the Spurs have a plus-16.0 (!) net rating, and that falls to minus-0.3 when he's on the bench. That gap speaks for itself when it comes to the "value" portion of the MVP race, and Wembanyama can't be fully ruled out at this stage.
4. Cade Cunningham
Cunningham's best hope is probably that the three players above him all end up being ineligible, which is possible, but quite unlikely. He does have an interesting "traditional" case as, by far, the best player on the best team in the Eastern Conference. Cunningham is putting up 25.2 points, 9.8 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game, and he is dragging Detroit's offense to its optimal level on a nightly basis.
In a season without any truly standout candidates, Cunningham would have a reasonable MVP resume. Still, it is hard to see him crack the top tier unless extinuating circumstances arise in the coming weeks.
Honorable Mentions: Luka Dončić, Anthony Edwards, Jaylen Brown, Donovan Mitchell
All four of these players will receive, and deserve, ballot inclusion. Dončić leads the NBA in scoring while putting up 61.4 percent true shooting, and he also stuffs the stat sheet with at least 7.8 rebounds and assists per game. Edwards has made a leap to averaging nearly 30 points per game, and he is also enjoying the best efficiency (62.1 true shooting percentage) of his career. Brown has been the centerpiece of a team that is wildly overachieved its preseason baseline, and he is producing career-high numbers in points, rebounds, and assists. Finally, Mitchell has kept the Cavs afloat amid all kinds of injury issues, and Cleveland goes from awesome (plus-9.0 net rating) when he plays to brutal (minus-3.1 net rating) when he doesn't.