As the 2024-25 regular season winds down, the MVP debates have gone from a simmering heat to an arctic cold in recent weeks. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to dominate and the Oklahoma City Thunder continue to win.

Gilgeous-Alexander has had a tremendous season, with exquisite shooting efficiency for a guard and having a big impact on the Thunder's 63-12 record. If the polls and odds are right, he's going to win his first MVP. Even a 61-point triple double seemingly didn't give Jokic a reasonable chance to get back in the race.

If Jokić were to win, he would become the sixth player in NBA history with at least four MVP awards. The current group includes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Michael Jordan (five), Bill Russell (five), LeBron James (four) and Wilt Chamberlain (four).

Jokic has won three of the last four MVP awards and has been excellent again this season. He’s averaging a career-best 29.7 points per game, along with 12.8 rebounds and 10.2 assists. He could join Oscar Robertson and his teammate Westbrook as the only players in NBA history to average a triple double over the course of an entire season.

The Denver Nuggets superstar is playing at a level that makes it almost impossible to ignore his case for a fourth Michael Jordan Trophy.

DENVER — In one corner of the Minnesota Timberwolves locker room sat Julius Randle, ice bags on both knees and eyelids at half mast, his body in shambles and the words coming slowly after he spent 50 minutes on the Ball Arena court wrestling a 6-foot-11, 284-pound Serbian bear.