Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Hopes to Win NBA MVP Award Amid Jokić, Luka Dončić Race

There is no pretending with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Oklahoma City Thunder guard wants the 2023-24 NBA MVP, even if he knows players like Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić have excellent cases as well.

"I hope I get it, yes," he said, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. "I think all the guys are deserving, all have their case. Whatever happens, happens. But whoever gets it is deserving for sure."

Jokić has been a regular in MVP discussions of late, taking home the award in back-to-back seasons in 2020-21 and 2021-22 before finishing second to Joel Embiid last season. He is in the No. 1 position on NBA.com's MVP ladder as of Monday, and appears primed to take home the award for a third time in his career.

That would mean the Denver Nuggets big man joined the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, LeBron James, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Moses Malone as the only players in NBA history to win the award three different times.

But Dončić and Gilgeous-Alexander have put up quite the case themselves with the latter leading his Thunder team to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference over Jokić's second-seeded Nuggets.

Gilgeous-Alexander ended up averaging 30.1 points, 6.2 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 53.5 percent from the field and 35.3 percent from deep this season. He was the driving force behind the Thunder's incredible jump and will now look to lead them to a championship for the first time since the franchise was still the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979.

There may even be a Western Conference Finals showdown in store between Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokić if the seeding holds.

And they would both surely rather win that than the MVP.