Why Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's MVP snub is unprecedented

Here's a rundown of everything Shai Gilgeous-Alexander achieved in the 2023-24 regular season: the second player since 2005-06 to register over 50 30-point games, the leading scorer on the youngest No. 1 seed in NBA history, the league leader in total steals (150) and the player who guided OKC to its best record since 2013-14.

All those accolades weren't enough for SGA to be named MVP. Nikola Jokic was a deserving winner, but even the biggest fans of the Nuggets star would admit he wasn't a runaway MVP.  

That's why when the final tally revealed that SGA received only 15 first-place votes to Jokic's 79, Shaquille O'Neal — one of the biggest supporters of Jokic — kept it real with the man he anointed the new "President of his "Big Man Alliance." While congratulating the Serb on Wednesday's "Inside the NBA" on TNT, O'Neal told Jokic that SGA was robbed of the award.

"You know I love you, you're the best player in the league, I want to congratulate you," Shaq told Jokic. "But I want you to hear it from me first — I thought SGA should have been MVP. That's no disrespect to you."

To put things in perspective, SGA has become the first player since 1967 to average over 30 points on the No. 1 seed in the West and not win the MVP. The last such player was Rick Barry, who averaged 35.6 points in the 1966-67 season, led the Warriors to the No. 1 seed out West but lost out to Philadelphia's Wilt Chamberlain.