Sports

Smacktalk Backtalk: My NBA MVP Ballot

Ryan Bobb and Xavier Chang

May 22, 2024

Smacktalk

With the NBA season coming to an end the most prestigious individual award – the NBA MVP – has been announced. With the new Player Participation Policy in effect, some fans may consider the winner, Nikola Jokic, to have an asterisk by his name since players like Jimmy Butler, Donovan Mitchell, and reigning MVP Joel Embiid were not eligible for any awards this year, most notably MVP.

With those other players out of the discussion, my choice for MVP is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder. SGA averaged 30 points 5.5 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game and averaged 2 steals a game on the other side of the ball. What put him above the other candidates was leading the Thunder from 10th spot in the west last year to the 1st seed this year. Not only are they the 1 seed, they are the youngest by average age top seed in league history.

Second place on my ballot would go to Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks who led the league in scoring with 33.9 points per game. What’s even more impressive about that is he also averaged 9.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds to go along with the crazy scoring. Doncic led the Mavericks to the 5 seed with a 50-32 record which is a big improvement from last year when they were the 11 seed with a 38-44 record.

Third place on my ballot is Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. Jokic is no stranger to being in this conversation as he has been top 10 in MVP voting for 6 straight years. He led the Nuggets to the 2 seed with 57 wins by averaging 26.4 points with 12.6 rebounds and 9 assists. While these are great numbers, I feel that the other two candidates deserved it more.

Backtalk

The future of the NBA is bright with many young and talented players in the game today. Now that the playoffs are in full swing and the finals just weeks away, it is time to pick who I think should have been this season’s MVP.

I’ll get straight to it: Dallas forward Luka Doncic is my pick as MVP. Luka had a season for the ages, one that saw him move into third place all-time for average scoring at just over 28 points per game. This places him just behind Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. By averaging 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 9.8 assists per game this year, Luka dominated. The league’s leading scorer helped the Mavericks improve their playoff position from 8th to 5th and they took out the Clippers in round one.

Having already won back-to-back MVPs in 2020-21 and 2021-22, Denver’s Nikola Jokic was once again a front runner for the award and while the league picked him this year, he is my runner up. Joker put up monster numbers with 26 ppg, 12 assists, and 9 boards. Using his ability to come into the paint and make his dominant presence known with a pass-first playing style, Jokic is able to space the floor and create opportunities for his teammates because he always makes the right reads. With his team finishing second in the Western Conference, Jokic finishes just behind Doncic on my ballot.

Mr. Consistent, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Western Conference number one seed Oklahoma City Thunder, is my number three player for MVP. SGA is on my ballot due to his consistent 30 points a night and his ability to get to his spots and knock down clutch baskets, which led to him having six 40+ games this season. This is SGA’s first time in the MVP conversation and many, like Ryan, think he should have won for bringing his young Thunder team to the playoffs for the first time since the 2019-2020 season.

About the Contributors

Ryan Bobb, Sports Editor

Everyone has their ambitions and aspirations but are they willing to do the work for it? For Paint Branch eleventh-grader Ryan Bobb, hard work is no obstacle. One of the big goals for Ryan this year is once again making the PB basketball team and averaging at least 15 points per game, Basketball is a sport that he has treasured deeply since starting to play the game at the age of 5 years old. In fact, for Ryan, basketball is one of his motivations for waking up in the morning. In addition to basketball, Ryan is inspired by his family and plans to get good grades and achieve his goals. One of those goals is to maintain honor roll throughout his junior year. When it comes to his future, Ryan’s aspiration is to work in the NBA alongside the best of the best. If he were to achieve this well-respected goal, he wishes to work for his hometown team, the Washington Wizards where his long time idol John Wall played. Speaking of John Wall, for most people, meeting their idol is just a dream, a thing they fantasize about but never achieve. However, that is not the case for Ryan who entered and won a contest to be a Monumental Sports Wizards junior reporter, which he entered by creating a video with his father. Winning this contest led to Ryan having a chance to meet his idol, John Wall. In fact, he not only met him, he had the chance to interview him. In fact, this experience is in part why he took journalism and continues into his third year with the program. It helped shape Ryan into a person who sees it as maybe something he can do in the future.

Xavier Chang, Staff Writer

Most of us have a favorite color. When someone asks you what your favorite color is you usually just answer it with that favorite shade, but have you ever thought about why? For me my favorite color is purple, the color of royalty. I grew to love journalism throughout my years of high school. At first, I took it to enhance my writing but now it's more than that. Going into my senior year, I am excited to give tribute to my passion for creative writing, through journalism. I’m looking forward to reading the work of all of my peers, their new opinions, features, and everything else that is to come from this class. Diving into this year, I am looking to achieve many goals such as scoring 100 goals for the PB lacrosse team. Playing lacrosse has been an experience that has taught me how to branch out and how to be co-dependent sometimes, which will help me in my career as well as everyday life. As a player, I want this season to help me transition into my journey at the next level in college. Speaking of college, I hope to major in political science and minor in law. In my free time I like to watch anime; one of my personal favorites is Death Note. I love listening to music, especially Future, Travis Scott, and Micheal Jackson. I hope to attain my goals this year with hard work. Two words that I used to describe myself in my freshman year were “passionate and ambitious.” Now, several years later, I intend to keep those traits moving forward.

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Smacktalk Backtalk: My NBA MVP Ballot

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