Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards has rated Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the MVP of the NBA. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points on 15-of-23 shooting, including 19 points during the third quarter as the Thunder registered a 113-105 win over the Timberwolves on Tuesday night at the Paycom Center.
It was the 12th straight win for the Thunder, excluding NBA Cup finals loss against the Milwaukee Bucks. Gilgeous-Alexander has played an instrumental role in this winning streak as he has been averaging 33.4 points on 56.6% shooting from the field in this golden period for the franchise.
“The MVP of the NBA,” Edwards told ESPN.
“I feel like I’m flowing, like the game’s just coming,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I’m not pressing, not thinking, just out there hooping. The hard work’s paying off.”
Edwards tipped Alexander as unguardable as he is a headache for the opposition.
“To me, he’s unguardable,” Edwards said. “As far as any one-on-one matchup, yeah, you can go on and give it up. Just give him two points most of the time. So I think you got to trap him. Maybe that don’t work, but you got to try it. For sure you got to send a second body, especially if he got a favorable matchup. Anytime he got somebody that he knows can’t guard him, ah, he going to score every time.”
On the other hand, Denver Nuggets talisman Nikola Jokic, who is a three-time MVP, is averaging 31.0 points, 12.9 rebounds and 9.5 assists in the ongoing season. Edwards said that the Serbian is also in the MVP race.
“I don’t know if they could give it to [Jokic] again,” said Edwards, who had 20 points in the loss. “Yeah, I would say Shai. Yeah, he’s looking like the MVP, man. He was incredible once again tonight.
“He’s consistent every night. His team gonna give him the ball and just let him rock out every night. It’s nothing to think about. ‘Hey, get Shai the ball and he going to get busy, and then we’re going to figure it out after that.’ I love watching that. It’s incredible, man. If he is keeping him like that, I hope they give [MVP] to him this year for sure. I feel like he should have won it last year, but he’s playing out his mind right now.”
