OKLAHOMA CITY — Yesterday’s MVP was stuck 90 feet away on the opposite baseline, hands on knees, helpless to stop what was coming. He had made a compelling case for himself. Nine points in a minute of game time to resuscitate his team. A worthy last stand. But now he was subbed out for defense for the last eight seconds. The last word belonged to today’s MVP, and likely tomorrow’s.
“He made some big shots,” Nikola Jokic said. “What he’s doing the whole season … Some would say it’s a bad shot that he’s making.”
Except that bad shots haven’t existed in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s diet this season. His game-winner over Spencer Jones on Monday night was merely a replica of the step-back 3-pointer he sank over Christian Braun 12 seconds earlier, as if to certify the first was no fluke. He is that cold-blooded.
On a night he had already tied Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time record with his 126th consecutive 20-point performance, Gilgeous-Alexander may have also clinched his second straight MVP trophy over Jokic. At minimum, the Thunder point guard solidified that he’s the standard now. Jokic was already chasing him — in the betting odds, in the court of public opinion, even in some of the advanced player-value analytics that traditionally favor Jokic. The burden of proof was on him as he lumbered into Oklahoma City for a third head-to-head matchup this season, having already lost the first two.
His shot-for-shot duel to the death with SGA was befitting of an MVP referendum game. Jokic catalogued what should have been a new signature moment on the career reel — a cunning act of subtle deception to get himself open with a fake off-ball screen, then a Hollywood shot with 8.5 seconds left that fortuitously turned into a game-tying 4-point play. Gilgeous-Alexander turned it into a footnote.
Jokic was as great as he’s been all year. Gilgeous-Alexander was a hair greater.
The final individual and team tallies reflected it. Jokic: 32 points on 12 of 19 shooting, 14 rebounds,13 assists. Gilgeous-Alexander: 35 points on 14 for 21, nine boards, 15 assists, zero turnovers. And a celebration of history soon to be conquered.
“I don’t know that people know how hard it is to do that. To make a 20-point game in 10 games (much less) 120-whatever, it’s special, and he’s a special player,” Jokic said. “It’s a pleasure and privilege to battle against him.”
“It just says a lot about Shai’s career, the consistency he’s shown over all these years and just the fact that basketball is in a really good place right now,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “And I think when these records get broken — our guy has broken some records with Wilt as well — it’s just a good time to take a break, take a breath and think about what that guy did. And what these guys are passing. … It’s not just a conversation. It’s literal numbers. It’s black and white.”
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) drives against Denver Nuggets guard Christian Braun (0) during the second half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 9, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Gerald Leong)
SGA owns the Nuggets
Jokic’s credibility as an MVP candidate isn’t dead by any means. He still leads the NBA in rebounds per game (12.5), assists per game (10.3) and true shooting percentage (68.1%), which accounts for 3-point and free-throw shooting to measure overall efficiency.
But it’s perhaps more notable that Gilgeous-Alexander is the only member of the top 10 in that category who’s not a big man. He ranks seventh at 66.7% while taking primarily jumpers, a step up from his already elite scoring precision in his first MVP campaign. Just over 60% of his field goal attempts have been from 10 feet or farther. (About 37% of them have been in the 10- to 19-foot range, where only the best players have the greenest of lights because defenses are most willing to concede the midrange.) He’s making those shots at a 49.4% clip, which would be an efficient overall field goal percentage including rim chances for most guards and forwards. Jokic has attempted 58% of his shots inside of 10 feet.
As a passer, Gilgeous-Alexander has narrowed the gap, even if Jokic remains the sport’s preeminent playmaker by consensus. SGA’s assist rate is up 4% this season. His turnover rate is down 0.4%. He doesn’t drop flashy dimes, but he’s gradually improved at navigating double-teams and blitzes throughout his career as his scoring talent has ascended. The Nuggets threw the kitchen sink at him Monday, and he responded by joining LeBron James as the only players in league history to go for 35 points, 15 assists and no turnovers.
From 3-point range, he’s narrowing the gap, too. He’s up to 38.3% this season, which would be a fourth consecutive year of improvement. The step-back three is an increasingly reliable tool for him, as he demonstrated on two game-defining possessions against Denver. Jokic still has a slight overall edge at 39.4%, but he’s been wading through a slump since his years-long, off-and-on right wrist inflammation emerged a few weeks ago. He’s only 30.4% in his last 16 games.
More pointedly, the direction of Denver’s season has been counterintuitive to Jokic’s dominant reputation ever since he returned to the lineup from a knee injury. The Nuggets are 6-10 in those 16 games. They went 10-6 in 16 without him earlier in the season. The delineation between “best” and “most valuable” player has always been murky, but in an NBA ecosystem where team success is often used as a tiebreaking variable for undecided voters, Jokic might be losing the benefit of the doubt. ESPN’s most recent straw poll of media members revealed a 78-18 margin in first-place votes. Denver is flirting with the Play-In Tournament after the heartbreaker in Oklahoma. Gilgeous-Alexander has led the Thunder to four straight wins over the Nuggets, dating back to Game 7 of their playoff series last season. He’s on the verge of leading OKC to the No. 1 seed in the West for a third consecutive year.
“We’ve had a lot of battles,” said Christian Braun, the Nugget most familiar with SGA’s elusiveness with the ball — he’s the primary matchup when Denver plays man-to-man. “I think tonight, he was much better than me. … He busted my (expletive) tonight. And it is kind of what it is. I’ve played him enough that I know I’ve had good games against him. I think that last game, I knew I played well and got a block in a big moment. Tonight, he made the shot in a big moment. He made a couple of them. So I know that I’m gonna play him again. I’m gonna play him in the playoffs. I’m very confident. He got the better of me this matchup.”
The backdrop for Monday’s regular-season classic was the new 65-game rule, of course, which continues to loom over both Jokic’s candidacy and Gilgeous-Alexander’s. The latter has five games left of wiggle room. Jokic can only miss one more game. If he misses two, he’ll no longer qualify for individual accolades — not just MVP, but All-NBA. He appeared disinterested when questioned about the rule, claiming he has no opinion on it and that he’s not motivated to meet the games threshold for awards purposes. “I mean, I want to play every game (regardless),” he said. SGA has said he’s OK with the rule.
“It doesn’t affect anything we do. I can’t speak for what OKC does. I will say this. … (Jokic) missing a game is like — him missing practice, him missing a workout is really hard for the guy,” Adelman said. “He’s a routine-based player, which is good for our game. Good for fans. And Shai is the same way. That’s one of the most impressive things about both guys. So when both guys get hurt, I just don’t see that as rest. I think there’s a difference. And I know why the rule is in, to clean things up (with load management). And that makes sense to me as well, for the fan. … It’s the worst, I’ve said this before, when your bus is parking and you see kids in jerseys and then show up and that guy doesn’t play. So I see it both ways. But in the spirit of the game, I just think Shai and Nikola have been so good for the game over these years, and I would hope that it’s taken into account as we move forward.”
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić (15) passes the ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Monday, Mar. 9, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Gerald Leong)
Don’t forget about Wemby
A third MVP candidate is also in danger of losing eligibility for the same reason. Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs have been surging as he clings to a 68-game pace. He might even be threatening to surpass Jokic. The French phenom leaped to second place in FanDuel’s odds Tuesday — another sign of the tectonic shift caused by Gilgeous-Alexander’s game-winner. Once a two-horse race, it’s beginning to skew toward a runaway winner and a cluster of runner-up candidates, unlike the relative toss-up last year. Jokic declared back then that he felt like he was playing the best basketball of his life, the most adamant lobbying he’s ever done for himself. There’s been no such claim from him during this stretch.
Like him, Gilgeous-Alexander has always been known as more of a silent assassin than an audacious public persona. But he allowed himself to relish the moment Monday after his step-back over Braun, pointing back at Denver’s defense and talking trash as he walked to his bench. “I don’t even remember what I was saying,” he said afterward. “Usually doesn’t happen. Tonight called for it.”
“He’s always gonna get his 30. That’s kind of who he is,” Braun acknowledged. “He’s one of the greatest players in the world.”
“One of” is the qualifier Denver is hanging onto as a city. It lingers in the air with increasing uncertainty these days. Jokic’s claim to the title of “best player in the world” has become a point of pride for the Nuggets organization, for Jokic’s teammates, for his fans. He earned it with a body of work that includes a championship and three MVP trophies. He continues to be labeled as such by awestruck opponents throughout the NBA.
As he crouched near Denver’s bench, reduced to a bystander during a finale that felt inevitable Monday, the mantle had never seemed more in doubt.