The NBA's Most Valuable Player (MVP) award is a coveted honor for every basketball player. However, it is not an easy task to win this award. Not only do you have to be extraordinary, but you also have to lead your team to great results, but you also have to face the challenges of other good contenders.
Over the past decade, we've seen a lot of great players win MVP trophies, such as James, Curry, Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Antetokounmpo, Embiid, and Jokic, among others. They're all NBA superstars, and they all have amazing stats and accomplishments.
We have to admit that in recent years, the NBA's MVP awards seem to be more skewed towards players who are tall, well-rounded, and able to make a difference both inside and outside. This may be because the NBA's style of play and tactical philosophy are constantly changing and evolving. Today's NBA is more focused on space and efficiency, and there is a greater need for players who can adapt to multiple positions and roles.
So, if you're a player who is less than 2 meters tall and plays mainly in the backcourt, if you want to get the MVP, you have to be very good and better than the other candidates. You have to have amazing scoring ability, you have to have excellent playmaking and passing ability, you have to have consistent shooting and shooting percentage, you have to have excellent defense and stealing ability, you have to have strong leadership and influence, you have to have excellent records and achievements.
That sounds hard, right? However, it is not impossible. In fact, this season, there is a guard player who is using his performance to prove to us that he has the strength and potential to win the MVP, and he is the Thunder's point guard Alexander. Big.
Alexander is a 25-year-old young player born in Canada. He was drafted with the 11th pick by the Charlotte Hornets in 2017 but was later traded to the Los Angeles Clippers.
With the Clippers, Alexander spent the first two seasons of his NBA career, showing great talent and potential. In 2019, he was also named to the second team of the NBA All-Rookie Team.
However, just as he was starting to make his mark with the Clippers, he was traded to the Thunder as part of the Paul George trade. From a championship team to a team that is rebuilding, this is undoubtedly a huge challenge and transformation for him.
However, Alexander was not bothered by these changes and instead seized the opportunity to show his strength and potential. At the Thunder, he quickly became the centerpiece and leader of the team, leading a group of young teammates and creating many surprising results. In the 2020-21 season, he averaged 237 points, 47 rebounds and 59 assists and 50 percent shooting8% and 41 percent from three-point range8%。
In the 2022-23 season, he performed even better, averaging 314 points, 48 rebounds and 55 assists. He led the Thunder to a 40-42 record and broke into the Western Conference play-offs, and although he didn't make the playoffs in the end, he exceeded expectations.
And this season, Alexander's performance has reached a new level, averaging 313 points (third in the league.) 6 rebounds and 6He had four assists while shooting 54 percent from the field (a career-high) and 34 percent from three-point range.
Not only did Alexander make another NBA All-Star call, but he also became an All-Star starter for the first time, the first All-Star start of his career. He also became one of the top contenders for the MVP award, and could even break the MVP's big man monopoly and become the first guard player to win the award since James Harden in the 2017-18 season.
At the beginning of the season, expectations for the Thunder were not high. After all, this team has the lowest overall experience in the league, with an average of just 222 years of experience on the course.
This season, however, they are clearly reluctant to let the play-offs become a fateful stumbling block again. Since the 2019-20 season shrunk, they have been eager to return to the playoff stage. Therefore, at the beginning of the season, they gave it their all and showed strong competitiveness.
And now, Alexander leads the Thunder, with a 34-15 record, in first place in the West. February** Dynamic Incentive Program They are one of the most surprising teams of the season, as well as one of the teams with the most momentum and potential. Their average age is only 24At 12 years old, they are the second-youngest team in the NBA, but they have shown extraordinary maturity and consistency. According to NBA statistics, Alexander is currently in third place on the MVP list, behind Jokic and Embiid, but ahead of two-time MVP Antetokounmpo.
Since the third week of the season, Alexander has been named one of the top five candidates for MVP. Alexander's performance in the game was impeccable, whether it was a sharp driving layup, accurate outside shooting or high-level defense, he showed that he was outstanding.
Alexander is in the midst of one of the best seasons of his career.
On the offensive end, he played a major role for the Thunder, firmly sitting as the team's leading scorer and becoming the only guard in the league to rank in the top five in interior scoring per game (15. per game).5 points), but his performance on the defensive end is just as dazzling enough to put him in the league among the best two-way guards.
Defensively, Alexander continues to show impressive improvement. Compared to the previous season, his performance in steals and defensive rebounds has improved significantly. At the same time, in the face of his defense, opponents have seen a drop in shots and hits. Although the opponent's defensive shooting percentage has increased slightly, it is more a reflection of the team's overall defensive strategy than a decline in his individual defensive ability. On both offensive and defensive ends, Kyrgyzstan Alexander has undoubtedly shown all-round strength at the MVP level.
Halfway through the season, the 25-year-old is averaging 2He led the league with three steals, and he made seven steals in a single game against the Spurs and six against the Rockets.
In addition, Alexander has also shown excellent ability in terms of defensive interference, averaging a whopping 3 interference shots per game6 times, and the cumulative number of interference shots this season has reached a staggering 157.
It's worth mentioning that when Alexander is the main defender, opponents shoot just 431%, well below their season average of 464%。
Alexander's stellar performance is one of the key factors in the Thunder's ability to compete for the league's best record.
Therefore, it is only natural that he is currently among the top three candidates for the MVP awards.
In particular, he doesn't have star teammates like Lillard next to him or Murray next to Jokic to lead his young team to victory.