There’s one clear choice in the NBA MVP race in the eyes of Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards.

Edwards told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is “the MVP of the NBA.”

“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.”

He added that Gilgeous-Alexander is “consistent every night” and the focal point for so much of what the Thunder do on offense.

Edwards got a reminder of SGA’s scoring ability on Tuesday night when the Thunder beat the Timberwolves 113-105. Gilgeous-Alexander went off for 40 points, adding three rebounds, two assists and four steals.

The Thunder own the best record in the Western Conference (27-5) and have a five-game lead on the second-place Memphis Grizzlies. Gilgeous-Alexander, meanwhile, is second in scoring at 31.3 points per game. His individual output along with Oklahoma City’s position in the standings make for a compelling MVP case.

However, another star held a commanding lead in the MVP straw poll conducted by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. The Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić received 57 of the 100 first-place votes, with Gilgeous-Alexander in second and receiving 24 first-place votes.

Voter fatigue can often be a problem for the reigning MVP because you have to basically improve upon what you did before. With Jokić, he has set an incredibly high bar through winning three of the last four MVPs.

The Nuggets, 18-13 and fifth in the West, aren’t going above and beyond, either, which could hurt their star big man.

We’re not even halfway through the season, so the MVP conversation is far from closed. Still, it sounds like Gilgeous-Alexander has some ground to make up if he’s going to dethrone Jokić.