Tyrese Haliburton on ‘easy decision’ to name SGA MVP: ‘If you took a player poll, I’m sure he would win’

Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a compelling case to win this season’s MVP award in the sense that he’s been perhaps the best player on the NBA’s best team.

The Thunder have the top record in the league at 62-12 and are on track for a franchise-record for most victories in a single season. Gilgeous-Alexander is scoring a league-high 32.9 points per game on 52.1 percent shooting from the field and 37.2 percent from 3-point range.

After Tyrese Haliburton’s Indiana Pacers lost to the Thunder by 21 points on Saturday, and he witnessed Gilgeous-Alexander torch Indiana for 33 points, the Pacers guard made the case for why the 26-year-old should capture the coveted award.

“I grew up in an era where the best player on the best team wins MVP every time, you know?” Haliburton said. “I think our era is kind of getting away from that a little bit, which is fine because I think [Nikola] Jokic and those guys are warranted when they win. But I think — if you took away them having the best record, he would still be the MVP. And then you throw on the fact that he has the best record, it kind of makes it an easy decision.

“I don’t have a vote, but I bet you if you took a player poll, I’m sure he would win.”

Along with Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic is believed to be another top contender to be named MVP. Denver’s record pales in comparison to Oklahoma City’s, as the Nuggets are 15.5 games back of the Thunder in the Western Conference standings.

However, the Nuggets still have one of the best records in the West, as they own the No. 3 seed with a record of 47-28. Plus, Jokic is having a historically impressive campaign from an individual standpoint.

Jokic has been a highly impactful all-around player for a while now, but he’s stuffing the stat sheet at a level that he never has before in the 2024-25 campaign. He’s set to become just the third player in NBA history to average a triple-double in a season, as across 64 games played to this point, he’s averaging 29.3 points, 12.8 rebounds and 10.2 assists per contest.

A strong finish to the 2024-25 for the Thunder would probably help Gilgeous-Alexander’s case to win the MVP award. If Oklahoma City can go the rest of the regular season without picking up a loss, it would end up with a whopping 70 wins on the campaign, and such a feat would put the Thunder in exclusive company.

Only two teams in the history of the league have won 70 or more games in a single season, and the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors are the most recent team to hit that mark.

Oklahoma City can balloon its current winning streak to a lengthy 10 games with a win against the Chicago Bulls on Monday.