Updated NBA Playoffs MVP rankings: Why Cade Cunningham has the belt right now

We are now a moderately respectable number of games into the NBA Playoffs, and so it’s obviously time to hand out a round of MVP awards to those most deserving of praise. Plural MVP awards, huh. Most Valuable Players? Mosts Valuable Player? We’ll workshop it.

I will naturally only be considering guys who are still alive in the championship race. Yes, I know Dillon Brooks had a great opening round scoring despite getting swept, but he is unfortunately not eligible for the ladder. Nor is Paolo Banchero, who probably would have been sky-high on this list if he had made it out of the first round. But he didn’t, and the guy that sent him home will kick off our list. We’re also handing out Made Up Awards, because why not?

1. Cade Cunningham

Made Up Award: The Greg Jennings “I put the team on my back” Award for … doing that

Cade Cunningham is not having a particularly efficient playoffs. Cade Cunningham is turning the ball over far too much. Cade Cunningham just got taken seven games by the lowly Orlando Magic. But Cade Cunningham was also the only thing keeping the Detroit Pistons in these playoffs, and the singular reason they are now up 2-0 on the Cleveland Cavaliers, in the driver’s seat taking I-75 to the Conference Finals. 

My concern for Cunningham will be fatigue. I do not think the Cavaliers are going to get swept, and Game 2 saw the theoretical nadir of their production as a team; James Harden went full … James Harden (derogatory), and Evan Mobley snatched one singular rebound despite being seven feet tall and playing 36 minutes. One of the most unbelievable stats in NBA history, by the way. I’m pretty sure if I was out there for 36 minutes there is a non-zero chance I could accidentally end up with two rebounds. I’m 5’8”. 

Cunningham already played a seven game series, and you can probably sign him up for another five or six here. The Knicks have a boat load of big wings to throw at him in the Conference Finals if they both get there, and Cade is averaging over 40 minutes per game in a playoff schedule that somehow has teams playing every other day with no end in sight. I haggled over the other two spots on this list, but I was under no illusions who number one was.

2. Jalen Brunson

Made Up Award: The “This is our year!” Award for this being their year

Let’s just get some stats out of the way: Brunson is scoring 27 per contest on about 35 minutes, he’s not getting to the free throw line all that much and is still kicking the crap out of the Philadelphia 76ers with or without Joel Embiid. He didn’t even have that great a Game 2, though he tightened the screws down the stretch. But none of this remotely captures Brunson’s value:

He has an uncanny ability to handle the most pressure from the most pressurized city in the most pressurized arena over, and over and over again. He was a second-round draft pick; nobody prepared him to be the King of New York and he’s doing it anyway. He is a small guard who has to work so, ridiculously hard for every shot and he makes them anyway. The New York Knicks on the whole have been playing great for four straight games, but they would be going nowhere if Brunson wasn’t who he was.

No one else on the roster is reliable. Mikal Bridges is always healthy but rarely impactful (though he’s been better) and OG Anunoby has been … like, the best player in the world in the playoffs, but might miss a short spurt with an injury. Karl-Anthony Towns can’t stay out of foul trouble, and Josh Hart is shooting 23 percent from three these playoffs. Brunson has to be nails all the time. And he has been.

He’s also not super likely to get a better shot at this any time soon. This 76ers team looks like it has nothing right now and the Detroit Pistons are very beatable for New York. This really is our yea—erm, I’m a Celtics fan, so it’s their year. Not mine. It really was not my year.

3. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Made Up Award: The John Cena Villain-Arc Award for somehow becoming a villain

Has society had enough of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? Lately, it certainly feels like every Thunder playoff win, of which there are a great many these days, comes with groaning about Shai’s style of play, his foul-grifting and the overall theory of Thunder basketball. The Lakers appeared to confront of the referees after Game 2, upset about the whistle they were getting and what Austin Reaves thought was some disrespectful conduct. It’s a fascinating turn for a Thunder team that many of us anointed as the pinnacle of a basketball team, and Gilgeous-Alexander is at the very center of it all. 

Shai could have easily been — and perhaps should be — above Jalen Brunson on this list, but I can’t sit here and tell you I think the Thunder would be out of this without Gilgeous-Alexander. I mean, he’s one of the most impressive offensive players I’ve ever seen, and can carry a team to a championship. But his squad is just too big to fail, and while I don’t think they’re invincible, they’re a +46.9 net rating when he’s off the court and a plus-17.7 he’s on so far in these playoffs. Both are still ridiculously good, hence why they’ve been destroying everyone, but the numbers tell me the Thunder could do this without him.

My eyes also tell me that. In Game 3, Shai felt like the Thunder’s fourth or fifth best player. Jared McCain was on fire, Ajay Mitchell was unconscious. With how many winning players they have, it often feels like Mark Daignault just throws out five random guys at any one moment in the game and it doesn’t even matter. And for everything I just said, Gilgeous-Alexander is still having a ridiculously efficient playoffs, averaging 29.2 points-per-game in only 34.3 minutes. He’s third on this list for a reason, and I expect he’ll be at the top if the Thunder pull of the championship defense.

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