Ex-nugget coach Michael Malone delivers great approval: “Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has shown why he is the MVP”

We will present two statements by Michael Malone on this year's two-man NBA MVP race between the Thunder star from Oklahoma City, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver Nugget star Nikola Jokić.

Here is one from March when Malone was still the head coach of the Nuggets about The Athletic:

“Obviously, Shai Gilgeous-Aalexander is a great player, and when he wins his first MVP, he deserves that,” said Malone, referring to Jokić's most violent competition, the Thunder Guard that the NBA heads in the hit. “My thing is the following: If you didn't know that Nikola won three MVPs and I put players A and player B on paper … The guy who had a triple double on average, the guy who is in the three large statistical categories with top three, things that nobody has ever done, he wins the MVP 10 Times of 10.

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And here is Malone on Tuesday when he analyzed the final of the Western Conference in court for ESPN:

“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander showed why he is the MVP. He took over in the second half. It did this very efficiently and brought the team onto his back when they needed it.”

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Malone said that after another masterpiece after the season of Gilgeous-Alexander with 31 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals, the OKC series against the Minnesota Timberwolves opened at a win of 114-88.

Of course, Malone would not be the only person grown up by an MVP debate who raged in the last months of the regular season, but ended with Gilgeous-Alexander who is named the winner after the season. Gilgeous -Alexander was an overwhelming -3000 favorite at BetmGM to win the award before the playoffs started.

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Regardless of the side you are in the debate, it is not an insult to Malone for Jokić that Gilgeous-Alexander is the MVP when it was treated like a declared conclusion during the entire after-season. Jokić himself did not seem too interested in the discourse when the nuggets faced thunder in the last round.

The Nuggets fired Malone with only three games in the regular season, the last in-season shot in NBA history. Although the Nuggets had to make the last minute change by interim coach David Adelman, they sent the Los Angeles Clipper in the first round and then pushed the thunder to seven games before they lost the best record in the NBA with 68-14.