Former NBA champ boldly declares $35,859,950 player as MVP frontrunner over Nikola Jokic

If it were up to NBA champion Kendrick Perkins, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic wouldn't be the one to win MVP this season. Perkins, who won a title in 2008 with the Boston Celtics, revealed who is at the top of his list to win this season's Most Valuable Player.

In Perkins' perspective, the player who should be at the top of the MVP ladder is OKC Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Perkins made his feelings known by making a post on X (formerly Twitter).

This is what Perkins had to say about this season's MVP race.

"SGA should be the front runner for MVP," Perkins wrote.

According to the KIA MVP Ladder rankings made by Shaun Powell that are posted on NBA.com, Nikola Jokic is the frontrunner for the award at the moment. However, he did not start the season at that position, despite winning the award last season.

When the first rankings were released on Nov. 8, Jokic started at number three, behind Anthony Davis and Jayson Tatum, who were one and two, respectively. However, he shot up to the top spot in the Nov. 15 edition.

Since then, Jokic has held the top position in the MVP Ladder with every edition that has been released. Meanwhile, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander started at number four. He held that position in the first three editions and then climbed to the number three spot on Dec. 13.

SGA, who is in the third year of a five-year, $179 million contract, has been the leader of the OKC Thunder. This year, he is earning $35,859,950, according to Sportrac.

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the runner-up behind Nikola Jokic in MVP voting last season

Regardless of what the rankings say, the MVP and other award winners are not decided by a single ladder. Instead, it is voted on by several members of the media who cover the NBA.

Last season, these media members deemed Nikola Jokic worthy of winning the MVP Award. Jokic earned 79 first-place, 18 second-place and two third-place votes for a total of 926 points for the MVP award.

This would be the third time that the Serbian big man won the award after he took it in back-to-back years, 2021 and 2022.

Coming up behind Jokic in last year's voting is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The OKC Thunder guard earned 15 first-place, 40 second-place and third-place, three fourth-place and one fifth-place vote for a total of 640 points.

Jokic ended last season with averages of 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, 9.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Meanwhile, SGA put up 30.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 6.2 apg and 2.0 spg.

Up to this point this season, Nikola Jokic is averaging 30.7 ppg, 12.6 rpg, 9.4 apg and 1.7 spg. SGA is putting up 31.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 6.1 apg and 2.0 spg.