The NBA season is right around the corner. Soon the debates will heat up over who will win each conference, who will hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy and who will take home hardware during award season. 

One of the most talked about awards each season is the Most Valuable Player Award. Rightfully so, the league has never been as talented as it is right now. Logically the case can be made for five or more players to take home the honor of MVP. 

For the second straight year, Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished in the top five of MVP voting – slotting in second place to Denver Nuggets big man, and the best player in the sport, Nikola Jokic. 

Despite this runner up finish, the argument for crowning Gilgeous-Alexander is year ago – lifting the OKC Thunder to the No. 1 seed out West after a 40-42 season, the Thunder ripped off 57 wins this past season. They finished the regular season with a top five offense and top five defense en route to their first playoff series win since 2016 – a sweep of the New Orleans Pelicans, representing just their second sweep in franchise history – that leaves little room for the Thunder star to improve on his season, especially for a regular season award where he averaged 30 points, five rebounds, six assists, two assists and a block while shooting 53 percent from the floor, 35 percent from beyond the arc and 87 percent from the charity stripe. 

Still, Gilgeous-Alexander is third in MVP odds only lagging behind Jokic and Dallas Mavericks mega star Luka Doncic. 

A week ago, the NBA announced their full regular season slate and a stretch from Jan. 17 through Feb. 4 will likely decide the MVP race and how the dialog around it shapes up. In that span, the stars duke it out for what should be incredible basketball. 

Oklahoma City plays Dallas twice, the Mavericks also play Boston and Philadelphia in that span which gets Jayson Tatum and Joel Embiid in the mix. 

The 76ers battle Boston but also Giannis Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee. 

There’s also a shot that Embiid and Jokic face off in this three week stretch, as the two have missed out on multiple regular season matches recently, getting to see them go at it can help solidify an MVP case. 

While there will be massive games littered throughout the NBA calendar, this stretch will be when debates heat up. 

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