The Shai Gilgeous-Alexander disrespect reaches new heights

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal as only the fourth player in NBA history to win the scoring title, MVP and Finals MVP last season while leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to an NBA championship.

Yet, not a single insider who voted in ESPN's offseason survey picked SGA as the best player in the league, with 19 of the 20 votes going to Nikola Jokic, and the only other vote going to Luka Doncic. 

Don't get me wrong — Jokic is the best player in the NBA. The Denver Nuggets star became the first non-guard to average a triple-double last season, and the first player ever to finish a campaign top-three in scoring, rebounds, assists and steals. He also set career-highs in points (29.6), assists (10.2), 3P% (41.7), steals (1.8) and minutes (36.7) — a remarkable feat for a former three-time MVP in his 10th season.

Nikola Jokic lost to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

All those gaudy stats don't change the fact that Jokic's Nuggets lost to SGA's Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals, while the latter was the best player over the seven-game series. The Canadian averaged more points, assists and steals than Jokic, while shooting more efficiently at all three levels and playing superior defense.

This wasn't a case of SGA being on a better team — he outperformed Jokic and every other player. With its midrange maestro on the floor, OKC scored 130 points per 100 possessions, 16 more than Jokic's offensive rating of 114. For context, Thunder's second- and third-best players, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, had an offensive rating of 108, and Luguentz Dort shot a deplorable 33 percent from the field. 

While nearly every Thunder player endured cold shooting spells, Gilgeous-Alexander saved them with timely buckets, while also shutting down Jamal Murray on the other end. With all the marbles on the line, he had 35 points on 63 percent shooting, producing one of the epic Game 7 performances in NBA playoffs history. 

The SGA disrespect is not new

It's noteworthy that not a single ESPN insider voted for SGA as the best player, but it's also not surprising. In the lead-up to last season's playoffs, numerous insiders doubted the Thunder's ability to replicate their regular-season success (68-14) in the playoffs. 

Furthermore, ESPN's Brian Windhorst, while quoting anonymous sources, reported that players around the league were eager to be "on the same side of the bracket" as SGA and Co. in the playoffs, as they did not respect them as legitimate NBA title contenders. 

One would have thought that some of those naysayers learned their lesson after Thunder silenced them by winning the NBA title, but apparently not. All SGA and his teammates can do is run it back and become the first repeat NBA champions in eight years.