Shai Gilgeous-Alexander received some unlikely Most Valuable Player award support Tuesday night: from former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone.
After being fired following nearly 10 years of coaching three-time MVP Nikola Jokić, Gilgeous-Alexander’s biggest competition for this year’s award, Malone was effusive in his praise for Gilgeous-Alexander after his 31 points and nine assists led the Thunder over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he showed why he’s the MVP,” Malone, who will be featured on ESPN throughout the network’s coverage of the series, said after the game. “He took over in the second half. Did so in a very efficient manner, and he put the team on his back.”
“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander showed why he’s the MVP.”
— Michael Malone
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) May 21, 2025
Malone had been one of the most vocal supporters of Jokić as he won the MVP award three of the last four seasons. Jokić and Gilgeous-Alexander are considered the two leading MVP candidates this season, and despite the long list of achievements Jokić has piled up in recent years, many have argued he just finished his best individual season in 2024-25.
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In early March, less than a month before being fired, Malone told reporters a player with Jokić’s resume “wins the MVP 10 times out of 10.”
Jokić and Gilgeous-Alexander also just completed an epic seven-game battle in the second round of the playoffs, which ended with Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 35 points in the Thunder’s 32-point victory in Game 7 to eliminate the Nuggets.
Malone led Denver to its first NBA title in 2023 but was fired along with general manager Calvin Booth on April 8 after behind-the-scenes tensions between Malone and Booth boiled over. Malone was ousted with only three games left in the regular season, but Denver made it past the first round behind interim coach David Adelman.
Prior to Malone’s firing, team and league sources indicated the team’s most important players, including Jokić, had grown frustrated and fatigued by Malone’s fiery ways.
After Malone and Booth were fired, Jokić said he spoke with Nuggets team president Josh Kroenke about the Booth-Malone decision before it was revealed publicly
“I’m not gonna say what Josh told me,” Jokić said. “(But) I mean, I knew a little bit before everybody, and he … told me, ‘We made a decision.’ So it was not a discussion. It was (their) decision. And, you know … he told me why (it was done). And so I listen and I accept it.”
The 2025 NBA MVP award will be announced Wednesday night before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, the league announced. If Gilgeous-Alexander does win, he will join Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook as the third player in Thunder history to be named NBA MVP.
(Photo: Joshua Gateley / Getty Images)
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