There should be an NBA Playoff MVP, shouldn’t there be?
People have been clamoring for this idea for what seems like forever, and we finally gave you, dear readers, a snapshot of what that may have looked like at this point — through two rounds — last season. So, why not reveal our Playoff MVPs (so far) again?
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In fact, the NBA should take it a step further and feature an All-NBA Playoff Team, so consider this, a top-five list of Playoff MVP candidates, our ballot (again: so far).
(The All-NBA Playoff Second Team and Playoff MVP honorable mentions, with apologies to Dylan Harper and Alex Caruso: Stephon Castle, San Antonio Spurs; Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves; James Harden, Cleveland Cavaliers; Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City Thunder; Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks.)
(Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports illustration)
Cunningham’s postseason may be done, but what a ride it was, lasting two seven-game series, and he was Detroit’s primary (only?) offensive option for the entirety.
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He gets to his spots, and that’s pretty much anywhere on a basketball court, where he can score or create with equal aplomb. At 6-foot-6, 220 pounds, he is bigger than most anyone defending him, and he can muscle his way to a midrange jumper, or all the way to the basket in the absence of a big. Switch a big onto him, and he will bring him back out to the perimeter and dance his way to a blow-by drive or a step-back 3.
This is, of course, true for all of the great playmakers on this list, but Cunningham had a unique degree of responsibility on his Pistons. They often played two non-shooters — a severely struggling Jalen Duren and defensive ace Ausar Thompson — around him, and they lacked secondary creation beyond a valiant effort from Tobias Harris.
All of Detroit’s shortcomings — the same ones we were anticipating going into the playoffs — were exposed against both the Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers, two teams to which a 60-win No. 1 seed should have had no problem laying waste.
But one thing is for certain in Detroit: Cade Cunningham is here for the fight.
Nobody has scored more points this postseason than Mitchell, who, granted, has played four more games than New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson and six more games than Oklahoma City Thunder standout (and back-to-back NBA MVP) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. But still: Mitchell is a roaming bucket, looking to score at every opportunity, and frustrated when he can’t, as most great shooting guards are.
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And Mitchell is one of the great shooting guards in league history. Sure, the Michael Jordans and Kobe Bryants and Dwyane Wades of the world are clearly on a higher level, but he is absolutely on the list of greatest shooting guards never to win a title. Only Jordan, Luka Dončić, Allen Iverson, Kevin Durant, Jerry West and LeBron James have averaged more than Mitchell’s 27.8 points per game for an entire playoff career.
The carrot of a championship is still dangling in front of Mitchell, of course, though it appears to be hanging at a safe distance now that the Knicks have taken a 2-0 series lead in their Eastern Conference finals. Still, Mitchell got the Cavs here as the best player on the floor in a second-round Game 7 that also featured Cunningham.
If only Mitchell were better at defense, or if only his backcourt sidekick, James Harden, weren’t such a sieve, too, Cleveland might have a chance at another ring. But there are levels to this game, and levels to these rankings, and this is where Mitchell — a spectacular talent, but a flawed one nonetheless — stands right now.
3. Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
I was texting with our own Dan Devine, who’s been covering the Knicks wonderfully on this run (and for years, really), and all I could say of Brunson was, “What a player.”
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He does these amazing things at 6-foot-nothing, whether he’s finishing around the rim, stopping on a dime and pulling up from mid-range, or dribbling into a 3-pointer, and you think, He can’t possibly do it again, and yet he does something like it again. And again. He does it so many times, so you remember, Oh, yeah, he’s just that good.
And he is that good. Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon, commenting as an analyst, famously said the Knicks, or any team, couldn’t win a championship with Brunson, an undersized point guard, as their primary option. And she may be right.
But right now those comments are hanging in the balance, because the way these Knicks are playing, man, we should absolute believe they can win the championship. And Brunson is their closer, scoring more points per game in the fourth quarter (9.1 on 60/64/94 shooting splits!) than anyone in these playoffs. Just electrifying stuff.
2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s back-to-back MVP, is just so consistent. Regardless of what lineup the Thunder put around him, and they can field every look imaginable, he gives the game what it needs, scoring if necessary, or creating when required.
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Sure, he gets grief as a foul grifter, but there is skill to what he does, forcing his defenders into awkward positions, creating contact and finishing through it. It is beautiful to watch once you realize that all the great scoring guards did the same.
He leads the NBA in points per game this postseason, as he did last year (among all players who reached the second round), and in these playoffs he leads the league in assists per game (again, among all players who reached the second round). And he has been every bit the Clutch Player of the Year down the stretch of close games.
He has been doing his best Michael Jordan impression over the past two years, sweeping every major award, as he is seven wins away from a second straight Finals MVP honor, as well. The Thunder are +73 in his 368 minutes. They are, of course, +62 when he is on the bench — so good, in fact, that they could win it all sans Williams.
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What hurts Gilgeous-Alexander’s cause? Well, for one, he’s only played 10 games, as his Thunder cruised through the first two rounds. They are a loaded roster. Yet, SGA cultivates the environment in which not only can Williams thrive, but Chet Holmgren, too, and Ajay Mitchell, or Jared McCain, or just about anyone else can reach his best.
While the Thunder may well be on their way to a second consecutive title and the outset of a dynasty, none of it happens without the gem that is SGA at the helm.
The man, or the 22-year-old, is a monster. At 7-foot-4, he can do anything on a basketball court, including pulling up for a game-tying overtime 3-pointer from Stephen Curry’s range, or tipping home any of his own misses inside of 15 feet.
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It is unfair, really. Nobody that tall should be that skilled, and nobody that skinny should be so equipped for the rigors of the NBA’s physicality. Oklahoma City’s Isaiah Hartenstein absolutely mauled Wembanyama in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, and still the Spurs center ended up with 21 points, 17 rebounds and 6 assists.
Not to mention his 4 blocks. He is the game’s most terrifying defender, perhaps ever, and his offensive game, when it’s clicking, has caught up enough that we can safely consider him the best player in the world — at age 22. I don’t know what it was like to watch Bill Russell in real time, all that length and athleticism in comparison to most everyone around him, but I imagine this is what it was like: Dominance of the sport.
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Don’t think Wembanyama deserves this spot over SGA? Consider this: Through the first two games of the third round, the Spurs are +17 in Wembanyama’s 86 minutes on the court and -19 in his 20 minutes on the bench. And in this case that tells the whole story. No other team relies on its star like the Spurs depend on Wemby’s ability to change the geometry of a game on both ends of the court. He is a cheat code.
We will see how healthy De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper can be in these West finals, or what the Thunder can get from Williams. The playoffs are now more than ever a war of attrition, and both the Spurs and the Thunder are able to sustain quite a bit of loss. But one man stands above all others. He has the skill to match that size. And he is 22.
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