Malone was covering the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>\u2018s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a>. And during this, Malone called Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the rightful MVP winner<\/a>.<\/p>\n What made this interesting was that Malone, who was the head coach of the Nuggets till last month, had advocated for Nikola Jokic to win the award for months before<\/a>.<\/p>\n Malone did end up clarifying his position on Jokic\u2019s MVP campaign earlier tonight<\/a>. And now, he seems to be trying to get back in Nuggets fans\u2019 good books with his latest remarks about Shai<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read More: After taking shot at Nikola Jokic, Michael Malone further rubs salt in Denver Nuggets fans\u2019 wounds<\/a><\/p>\n Malone: SGA whistle is favorable<\/p>\n Michael Malone spoke on SportsCenter after Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. His tone toward Shai Gilgeous-Alexander seems to have changed.<\/p>\n He called Shai Gilgeous-Alexander out for getting favorable calls<\/a> from the referees. And he agreed with current Nuggets coach David Adelman and called Shai a foul artist<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFavorable. That\u2019s the easy way to put it. You watched the last series against Denver, you gotta be ultra disciplined.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou think about trying to guard the best offensive players in the league these days, it becomes almost impossible. A lot of times, offensive players like Shai will initiate the contact or hook his arm looking to draw that contact. He is a foul artist.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDiscipline. You\u2019re hoping that the referees read how the game is being whistled, and they allow you to be a little more aggressive. You can do that. But once again, he\u2019s been living at the foul line. That\u2019s not going to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Minnesota](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2216579134-941x627.jpg\")
Photo by Matthew Stockman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n