{"id":308073,"date":"2025-09-28T02:27:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T02:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/308073\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T02:27:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T02:27:25","slug":"michael-malone-reflects-on-controversial-shai-gilgeous-alexander-over-nikola-jokic-mvp-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/308073\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Malone reflects on controversial Shai Gilgeous-Alexander over Nikola Jokic MVP pick"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Former Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone made headlines during the 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n<p>First, <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/tag\/michael-malone\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Michael Malone<\/a> was fired right before the end of the regular season as the <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/david-adelman-pays-tribute-to-denver-nuggets-legend-as-he-begins-role-as-permanent-head-coach\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Denver Nuggets named David Adelman as his replacement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Malone was understandably frustrated by the Nuggets\u2019 decision. However, Malone lost the support of the Nuggets fanbase during the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>How? Well, <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/after-taking-shot-at-nikola-jokic-michael-malone-further-rubs-salt-in-denver-nuggets-fans-wounds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Malone picked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as his NBA MVP pick<\/a> over <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/tag\/nikola-jokic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Nikola Jokic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"924\" height=\"627\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2207533324-1-924x627.jpg\" alt=\"Former head coach of the Denver Nuggets, Michael Malone looks up with a hand in his pocket.\" class=\"wp-image-151460\" \/>Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver PostWhy Michael Malone picked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander over Nikola Jokic<\/p>\n<p>At the time, the <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/tag\/oklahoma-city-thunder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> were facing the <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/tag\/minnesota-timberwolves\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> in the Western Conference Finals. With Malone sacked by the Nuggets, he became a part-time media analyst.<\/p>\n<p>Recalling his surprising pick, Malone revealed he was simply \u2018immersed\u2019 in the WCF, leading to his decision to pick SGA as the MVP.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was so immersed in the Western Conference Finals, and it was kind of my first welcome to the media moment. Everything you say and how scrutinized it is.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so ingrained into this OKC-Minnesota Western Conference Finals, and I made a comment about SGA and why he\u2019s going to be the MVP,\u201d Malone said, via SiriusXM NBA Radio.<\/p>\n<p>Malone then revealed the conversation he had with his wife after making the controversial pick.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI called my wife after the game. She said, \u2018Oh my gosh, people are up in arms back in Denver.\u2019 The reason I said what I said because it was already leaked that Shai was going to win the MVP. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think he was announced MVP the next day or the day after. So I was just stating what everybody else already knew,\u201d Malone added.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Malone says he would have voted for Nikola Jokic<\/p>\n<p>Following a massive backlash from Nuggets fans, <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/michael-malone-clarifies-shai-gilgeous-alexander-mvp-comments-after-nikola-jokic-backlash-if-i-had-a-vote\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Malone clarified his statement<\/a>. He claimed he would have voted for Jokic if he had a vote.<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to now, and Malone reiterated the same point during his interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI still would have voted for Nikola Jokic. People felt since I got fired, I changed my loyalty. This has nothing to do with loyalty. I love Nikola. I loved my 10 years in Denver. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou look at what Nikola did. 30 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists, and almost 2 steals per game,\u201d Malone continued.<\/p>\n<p>However, to conclude, Malone gave Shai his flowers for a terrific 2024-25 NBA season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut you have to give Shai credit. The season they had. They dominated the NBA. They dominated the regular season,\u201d Malone pointed out.<\/p>\n<p>To be fair, the timing of Malone\u2019s statement made it seem like he was taking out his anger over getting fired, but he has now cleared the air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone made headlines during the 2024-25 season. First, Michael Malone was fired&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,301,187,3943,4231,6,253,302,209,574],"class_list":{"0":"post-308073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-denvernuggets","12":"tag-michael-malone","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nikola-jokic","15":"tag-nuggets","16":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","17":"tag-western-conference"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115279563573588800","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}