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Los Angeles Clippers guard James Harden recently revealed that NBA players are backing Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the league’s Most Valuable Player award. The comments were shared by Rachel Nichols on a Sports Illustrated podcast ahead of the Clippers’ first-round matchup against the Denver Nuggets.
Nichols said she spoke with Harden before the team departed for Denver and asked who he believed was the best player in the NBA.
“I talked to James Harden for a little bit this morning before the Clippers left for Denver, and I said, who’s the best player? And he said… ‘no question, Jokic is the best player,’” Nichols said. “But even he said, all the players want to see Shai win MVP because of the season he had and the winning.”
James Harden told Rachel Nichols that the NBA players want Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to win MVP 👀
“All the players, we want to see Shai win MVP because of the season he had and the winning… But of course Jokic is the best player.”
(via @SInow)pic.twitter.com/wHFfjU7lFL
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 18, 2025
She added that Harden emphasized the significance of Gilgeous-Alexander’s role in leading the Thunder to the top of the standings.
“I think that really factors in for them more than maybe some people on the outside that are just looking at stats. But he goes, ‘of course Jokic is the best player.’”
James Harden’s remarks spotlight Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s rise in historic MVP race with Nikola Jokic
Gilgeous-Alexander, a former Clipper, was traded to Oklahoma City in 2019 as part of the blockbuster deal that brought Paul George to Los Angeles. Since then, he has developed into one of the league’s most consistent and dominant players.
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In the 2024-25 regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged career-highs across the board with 32.7 points, 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 1.0 block per game. He shot 51.9% from the field and 37.5% from beyond the arc while appearing in 76 games — his highest total in any season.
His performance helped lead the Thunder to a franchise-best 68-14 record, earning them the No. 1 seed and homecourt advantage throughout the NBA playoffs.
Meanwhile, Nikola Jokic remains the primary competition in the MVP race. The reigning MVP delivered another historic campaign, becoming one of just three players in league history to average a triple-double for an entire season.
He posted career-highs with 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, 10.2 assists, and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 57.6% from the field and 41.7% from three-point range. Jokic led the Denver Nuggets to a 50-32 record and the fourth seed in the Western Conference.
The Clippers will face Jokic and the Nuggets in Game 1 of their first-round series on Saturday at Ball Arena with tipoff scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. The series marks the first postseason meeting between the two teams since the 2020 Western Conference Semifinals when the Nuggets famously erased a 3-1 series deficit to eliminate the Clippers in the NBA bubble.
As the MVP race nears its conclusion, Harden’s comments highlight the respect Gilgeous-Alexander has earned among his peers, further elevating the narrative surrounding the Thunder guard’s stellar season.
