NBA – Giannis’ viral take on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP: “There’s no way this is true”

Par Joël Pütz | Journaliste sportif

As we’ve known for a few hours, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been named MVP of the 2024-25 regular season. An announcement that also prompted a reaction from Giannis Antetokounmpo… and it didn’t go unnoticed.

Rarely has the MVP race been as close as it has been this season. In fact, the debate was still particularly heated as the regular season wrapped up… Should Nikola Jokic be rewarded again or should Shai Gilgeous-Alexander be awarded the Michael Jordan Trophy? That was the question voters were left to ask themselves.

A real headache, since both players in question had serious arguments in their favor: the former, the defending champion, had just signed a historic campaign, averaging a triple-double, all while carrying the entire Nuggets franchise on his shoulders. As for the latter, he was the undisputed leader of a Thunder team that was unplayable for 82 games, finishing with the best record in the league.

Giannis’s viral reaction to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP

Ultimately, voters opted for something new, and the Canadian received his first career MVP. A well-deserved award, even if the Joker’ win in the race wouldn’t have be a scandal, which is why many of his supporters claim he was left out simply to avoid doing the same thing every year. But we forget that there was a third party among the candidates…

Indeed, a certain Giannis Antetokounmpo occupies the bottom step of the podium, having been shortlisted as one of three players eligible for the MVP. Unfortunately for him, and despite a tremendous regular season (over 30 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists per game), the Greek big man had very little chance of overtaking his competitors due to the Bucks’ struggles until mid-April.

However, the 2021 NBA champion did not fail to react to the MVP announcement made by Shams Charania, his message quickly making noise on social network X:

What??!!!! Did shams got hacked no way this is true??!!

Knowing the superstar’s jokey nature, it’s a safe bet that this was just a light jab. Giannis evidently expected SGA to be the one to be rewarded by the voters, rather than the admittedly monstrous Jokic, whose Denver franchise clearly hadn’t performed as well as Oklahoma City in 2024-25. A detail that obviously held a lot of weight when it came to deciding between the two favorites.