BREAKING: James Harden’s MVP opinion leaves Nuggets fans rolling their eyes

Denver Nuggets fans have been through this before. The 2023 NBA MVP debate got ugly quickly, and Joel Embiid wound up winning it over Nikola Jokic. One of the main talking points was that Jokic needed to win a title before winning another MVP trophy. He did that a few weeks later and won the MVP award in the 2023-24 season.

Jokic was unsurprisingly a finalist for the award this season, and it will come down to either him or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Thunder guard had an incredible regular season, and it helped that Oklahoma City secured a league-best 68-14 record.

Many people have said that SGA deserves to win the award over Jokic because the Nuggets superstar has won it three times. If a voter used that excuse to justify their choice of SGA, they no longer deserve to have a vote. Voter fatigue shouldn’t be a factor, but unfortunately, it appears to be one.

Players don’t get to vote for MVP, but according to James Harden, if they did, many would choose Gilgeous-Alexander. Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix and Rachel Nichols discussed the MVP debate and why it was so difficult to choose between Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander (both voted for SGA). Nichols said she spoke to James Harden (before the Nuggets-Clippers game started), and he stated that players want to see SGA win it, but that Jokic is the best player.

James Harden said players want SGA to win MVP over Jokic

Harden cited the regular season that SGA had and OKC’s winning (their supporting cast is better than the Nuggets) as reasons he should win. The reason why the MVP debate spirals out of control is that people have differing interpretations of what it means to be an MVP. Harden said Jokic is the best player, which means he should win MVP, right? However, he clearly values the impact SGA had on a winning team more.

Jokic averaged a triple-double for the third time in NBA history and led the Nuggets to the No. 4 seed in the West. Denver is an entirely different team when he’s not on the floor. Again, that all translates to Most Valuable Player, but alas.

Nuggets fans need to prepare for SGA to win MVP because it seems like that’s going to happen. Oh, well. Jokic isn’t concerned with it. He never has been. Denver is focused on its first-round playoff series against Harden and the Clippers. The winner will advance to the second round to play SGA and the Thunder. Wouldn’t that be fun?