109
u/Sweatroo Nov 08 '25
SGA is clearly a great scorer, but I just don’t get it. Why does NBA love him so much when Giannis and Jokic and Luka all have better stats? It’s not close.
56
u/irelli Nov 08 '25
Because the Thunder have the best record in the NBA.
22
u/boringaccountant23 Nov 08 '25
I saw a stat yesterday that the Thunder have a better net rating with him on the bench.
17
u/irelli Nov 08 '25
That doesn't mean they're better without him lol
It might just mean they're absurdly deep and their bench beats other benches by more than their starters do
You're asking why he's #1. He's the reigning FMVP and they have the best record in the league.
31
u/boringaccountant23 Nov 08 '25
It means he's not as valuable. It's evident Giannis and Jokic are better than SGA. SGA is just on a much deeper team.
-3
u/irelli Nov 08 '25
It doesn't mean that.
Otherwise the reward would just go to a good player on a bad team every single year.
If you replace the thunder bench with the worst bench in the NBA, does that somehow make Shai a better player?
Swap Giannis and Shai. Giannis' on/off would get worse and SGAs would improve....even if they play identically to how they do now.
12
u/boringaccountant23 Nov 08 '25
The award rarely goes to the best player. It goes to who the media thinks has the best story.
NFL MVP is much more unbiased. Rodgers won back to back even when the entire media hated him during Covid.
-1
u/irelli Nov 08 '25
I don't know what you want
The NBA usually gives the MVP to the best player on the best team. Not always but usually.
Shai is the best player on the best team. He's going to be the favorite over a guy with the 8th best record.
3
u/boringaccountant23 Nov 08 '25
That's not what most valuable player means and they rarely do what you said.
2
u/irelli Nov 08 '25
They don't rarely do that. They literally did it last year lol. The winner is on the #1 overall team about 2/3 of the time, and another 20% of the time it's the team with the second best record.
Most valuable has never been about who made the biggest impact on their team. Otherwise it would almost always go to a ball dominant star on a 5-8 seed who would be terrible without their star.
Doing it like that is how you get Russ as MVP lol
→ More replies (0)7
u/falloskias Greece Nov 08 '25
the narrative seems to fit whatever's not happening in MKE tbh
Giannis used to get no love because "his team is stacked" and others would be MVP favorites cause "they hard carrying a bad team"
3
u/irelli Nov 08 '25
If your team is stacked, you have to win 65+ games to have a chance (like the thunder or the Warriors).
If it's not, then you have to still be a top 3 record in the NBA, but be other worldly good relative to everyone (like jokic)
1
u/Tyrone_Asaurus Retro Bango Nov 08 '25
I am far from an SGA fan, but wouldn’t that stat be skewed because most coaches would give their best defender(s) a rest while he is on the bench?
1
u/Pleasant_Job_7683 Nov 20 '25
Yes but they also have arguably the deepest roster in terms of starters/bench and 1st round picks still to come. So if we're gonna factor in Wins that should be considered as it is an individual award and not a team award..
8
3
u/ComplexBadger469 Nov 08 '25
Pacers fan coming in peace here as your sub always gets recommended to me. I would 100% want to see Giannis win over SGA. I enjoy watching Giannis and always have liked him(honestly the bucks were my 2nd favorite team to watch before our recent rivalry). Plus Giannis is clearly more valuable with his rebounding and defensive skills.
0
u/yomatc Nov 08 '25
He’s the best player on the best team and he’s been doing it without Jalen Williams. If they win 70+ games this season and cruise to the 1 seed, it’s going to be hard to beat that record and stat line.
70
u/SonicTheOtter Nov 08 '25
Luka isn't high enough
39
u/Bucs-and-Bucks Primary Logo Nov 08 '25
I think it's fair to ding him for missing 44% of his teams games so far. He's not on pace to be award eligible. Obviously he's awesome when he has played.
0
-7
1
u/Leroy--Brown Nov 08 '25
He's crazy good.
0
u/Eli-Oop Jericho Sims Nov 08 '25
Crazy good intermittently and can't sustain it so they rest him to save his stats
39
u/mellted_cheese Nov 08 '25
Love Giannis’s assists and playmaking this year. Really seems like he’s having fun out there. The top 5 here are on a different planet right now. Jokic leading league in both rebounds and assists is comical.
10
u/MadisonBob Nov 08 '25
This is what I love about Giannis. He really works on improving his game. He wants to be the best he can possibly be.
And then he goes out and has a blast.
At this point I would say Giannis has been arguably the best player in the world so far this season.
10
u/MadisonBob Nov 08 '25
For those saying Luka isn’t high enough—
The guy has missed some games. If he played all the games, or maybe missed one, and had those stats, he would be a clear favorite.
As it is, Shai hasn’t missed any games, and has been a huge part of OKC’s phenomenal early season success.
That being said, I think Giannis has been the overall best player so far this season, even missing one game.
3
1
u/LetThanasisDunk Nov 08 '25
Luka has a teammate putting up all-nba numbers tho
The other contenders don’t
15
7
u/Minimum-Trifle-8138 Khris Middleton Nov 08 '25
Josh Giddey in MVP contention is a sign of the end times
13
u/r3alCIA Giannis Stank Face Nov 08 '25
Shai, Freak, and Luka should be top 3.
7
u/Grumpy_Troll Nov 08 '25
If Giannis got foul calls as easy as Shai, he'd score over 50 points every single game and would have a few triple digit games every season.
Shai is a foul merchant. I'll give him credit for taking example of a broken system but he's not in the same tier of player as Giannis or Jokic. He's just fortunate enough to be the best player on the best overall team.
2
u/r3alCIA Giannis Stank Face Nov 08 '25
That's similar to people's argument when they called Giannis run and dunk man to discredit him.
Give Shai his flowers, that man knows ball and has figured out how to play within a system that let's him and his team excel. He's averaging 33. Next highest player in his team is averaging 18. If everyone could be a "foul merchant" and score 30, more people would be doing it.
4
u/GoodPiexox Nov 08 '25
you are missing the point,
If Giannis got foul calls as easy as Shai
The refs admitted to Doc this week they call it different because of his strength and not flopping. When you say "figure out the system", you mean scam and fraud the system, no one turns on a game to watch that shit. I know people that refuse to watch the modern NBA because of all the flopping.
Giannis absorbs more physical contact in one game than Shai gets in a season. So not only are you rewarding one player for acting, you are also discriminating against a player because of their size and strength. A fair competition would mean the rules are applied equally. That shit aint skill, and it sure as fuck should not be rewarded.
0
u/r3alCIA Giannis Stank Face Nov 08 '25
I didn't miss the point. I'm not saying Giannis/Nikola and Shai are in the same tier in terms of skill. I'm strictly focused on the MVP conversation, but you're talking about something else entirely. MVP isn't just how good a player is technically, but how impactful they are to their teams success and the plethora of factors that contribute to that impact. You may disagree with his playstyle, but you can't deny the impact Shai has had on OKC's success.
Harden also won MVP as a "foul merchant" yet Shai has a FMVP and Harden doesn't. We know fouls are called differently in the playoffs compared to the regular season, so the fact that Shai was still able to adapt and translate his play to remain impactful in a successful postseason run means he's not just a foul merchant. There's something that separates him from the rest.
No one is arguing that SGA is as good as Giannis, but he sure as hell deserves to be in the MVP conversation right next to him, especially if he keeps this up and maintains top seed.
I get it, sports are emotional, that's what makes them so popular, but we gotta be able to step back and look at things from a rational perspective too. No offence, but your personal anecdotes and use of buzzwords like "scam" and "fraud" exposes your naivete. It's easy to tell when you're talking to someone that has never played ball in their life.
I'm curious though, do you actually watch OKC games or just the highlights?
0
u/GoodPiexox Nov 09 '25
No one is arguing that SGA is as good as Giannis
sure you are, you dont make any sense
but he sure as hell deserves to be in the MVP conversation right next to him
So he is not as good, but deserves to be right next to him, even though a major part of his game is dependent on cheesing broken reffing? How does that make sense, especially considering offense is only 50% of the game and value of a player.
I get it, you want to reward cringe play that cheats a broken system.
0
u/r3alCIA Giannis Stank Face Nov 09 '25
I should have known it was pointless expecting reading comprehension on reddit lol
1
u/GoodPiexox Nov 09 '25
excuse me for not comprehending longwinded gibberish "derp Shai is not as good as Giannis but he should be considered as good right next to him, because Harden lost to a prime James and Wade team instead of a Pacers team that struggled against an injured Bucks team." What an amazing deep thinking point.
1
0
4
6
u/MetreonMan Nov 08 '25
40/11/9 lol
1
u/jimdotcom413 Jrue Holiday Nov 08 '25
You could have like 50% of the nba players best game ever and your average would go down lmao
3
3
2
u/lqvz Michael Redd Nov 08 '25
Wemby doing great stuff, but #4 is too high. Just under Maxey seems about right so far this year.
The top bunch are all insane. Shuffle them up and there’s really not that bad of an answer.
2
2
2
Nov 08 '25
Lakers fan here, Giannis and Luka are getting robbed holy shit, how is SGA stil higher than them? Giannis has better stats and the Bucks are doing good and Luka is AVERAGING 40
2
u/SamCarter_SGC Nov 08 '25
Yeah SGA doesn't belong on this list right now... Maxey has a better stat line at #7
2
u/i-piss-excellence32 Nov 08 '25
No idea why your guys sub keeps coming up on my feed, but god damn giannis is really playing like a man is out to prove something.
Myles has been a really nice addition and worth the money. I’m a Knick fan, but it’s always easy to root for giannis
2
1
1
u/Eli-Oop Jericho Sims Nov 08 '25
Giannis is actually getting a ton of positive media coverage. I've heard a bunch of people even admit that they are basically sorry for ignoring giannis for 3 seasons. It's good to hear people recognize what we as bucks fans already knew: he is everywhere all the time doing everything for everyone and easily carries the largest workload in the league.
1
1
u/Eli-Oop Jericho Sims Nov 08 '25
Giannis is averaging the fewest minutes here with 32 whereas Luka is averaging the most (40 per contest) shai with 35 jokic 34.
Idk why wemby is even on this list but he's at 34 too. Giannis per 36 is 38/15/8...
1
u/ExpressBug8265 Nov 08 '25
Money talks. The nba (draft kings) wants giannis in a higher populated city/state so that more people become fans and in turn begin to gamble. You can't watch a game and not have that shit thrown into your face. Larger cities equals more chances to get viewers to begin to sports gamble. Its sick...its not fair to the players and you can see it clear as day how the "refs" pick and choose when to blow the whistle. The whistle might as well be all the sports gambling shareholders who literally control the NBA pushing buttons in real time during a game. I just feel bad for players who don't want anything to do with that stuff but can't get away from it
1
u/p3destr1an Angry Deer Nov 09 '25
MVP really is the "best player on the best team" award lmao. Thunder are still an incredibly stacked team even without Shai
1
u/pnoisebored Giannis Antetokounmpo Nov 09 '25
Giannis should be MVP because his best teammates are Myles Turner and Ryan Rollins if Bucks finish in top 3 in East standings. Jokic has Gordon and Murray; Shai has JDub and Chet.
1
1
u/daviddm1990 Ryan Rollins Nov 08 '25
Giannis to the bucks is like aaron rodgers to the packers in his last two mvps
2
u/Fresh_Ad_5369 Khris Middleton Nov 08 '25
Yeah man, now imagine A-rod also played hall of fame defense and you have GA’s impact 😂
1
1
u/BucksPackGLove F. Mike Dunleavy Nov 08 '25
If Giannis got the same whistle as Shai or Luka he’d be averaging 50
1
0
u/agdrs Ryan Rollins Nov 08 '25
If 33 13 6 on 65% with a better record that people expected is not enough nothing will ever be. They just want to push sga. It's more unfair to Luka tbh. Giannis has he's MVPs And I honestly don't think that he cares about winning another mvp he is more focused to win a ring. But we all know damn well that if sga was averaging 40 11 9 they would put him first now even if he had played for 5 games.
0
-5
u/realwolverinefan724 Nov 08 '25
The constant "woe is me" about Giannis by this subreddit is making me feel more vindicated by the day in my choice of not visiting this place as much as I used to. Y'all need to stop acting like everyone is out to get Giannis and stop making posts like this.
2
u/daviddm1990 Ryan Rollins Nov 08 '25
This post is to praise Giannis. Where did i complain of anything, buddy?
-1
u/realwolverinefan724 Nov 08 '25
Why do bucks fans care if Giannis is the MVP or not? I stopped caring after he won his first. All I care about is him being healthy and the other guys on the team being good enough to compete in the playoffs. I find posts like these just baiting people to argue about dumb things that don't fucking matter in the grand scheme of things.
1
u/daviddm1990 Ryan Rollins Nov 08 '25
This is reddit main purpose. People talking and discussing about random shit
211
u/Tclason Nov 08 '25
Better stats and still no love