Last week’s MVP rankings changed the entire positioning of players as the regular season comes to a close. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was leading, dropped down to #2 after Victor Wembanyama presented his case for the MVP award. Even recently, Lakers coach JJ Redick rallied for his star Luka Doncic. But it seems the OKC Thunder star is not worried about winning it back-to-back, and has taken a different approach.

First, he spoke about the different number of contenders for the MVP race. Apart from the three mentioned, Nikola Jokic, Jaylen Brown, and Cade Cunningham can all make their cases for the Michael Jordan trophy. “I think it’s good for the league, said SGA to the media after Thunder defeated the Detroit Pistons 114-110 in overtime Monday night. “I think it’s good chatter. It gives people something to talk about. There are a lot of good players in this league, and a lot of guys in the conversation because of that.”

Then the follow-up question was about campaigning for his back-to-back win as the Thunder guard nonchalantly declined. “No, I’m good. Thanks for asking, though. But yeah, I’m good. I let my game do the talking.” His game certainly did the talking when he faced the current number 1 team in the East, the Pistons.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 47 points. The reigning league MVP made 12-of-19 field goals and even extended his NBA record for consecutive games with at least 20 points to 136. This marked Oklahoma City’s 15th win in 16 games, keeping them two games ahead of the San Antonio Spurs atop the Western Conference standings. But it was straightforward.

Detroit was ahead 97-90 with just under four minutes remaining. But SGA scored six straight points to cut the deficit to 97-96. His clutch scoring continued in overtime as he dropped eight of the Thunder’s 13 points. A huge boost for his case after the recent MVP rankings changed the tide.

After Week 22, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was first for the 9th straight week, and Luka Doncic jumped to second. Wembanyama was third, with Jokic and Cunningham occupying the final two spots, respectively. But week 23 brought enormous changes. Wemby rose to #1, and Doncic fell to fourth with SGA and Jokic in between, and Brown took the final spot. While Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was not interested in his MVP campaigning, the other stars and their head coach are not stopping.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stays silent as Luka Doncic gets a vote of approval

Despite being suspended for Monday’s game against the Washington Wizards, Luka Doncic has led in scoring for March. His 37.2 points are unchallenged, as SGA is second with 30.7 points. Meanwhile, the Lakers’ superstar has also taken the criticism about his defense seriously and is third overall for steals with 2.3 per game. That’s why JJ Redick was happy to campaign for the 6x All-Star.

“If we continue to finish the season the way we are playing right now, and he continues to play that way, to me, he is the MVP. Sometimes there is recency bias, and sometimes there is the bias of a certain stretch of the season. I think when we started 15-4, you could have made the case he was MVP then. He’s been the MVP for two of the three segments of the season.”

His exploits in March even helped him to second place in Week 22’s rankings. But Victor Wembanyama made his case with three points and apparently worked his way to the top in Week 23.

“My first one would be that defense is 50% of the game, which is undervalued in the race because I believe I’m the most impactful player defensively,” said Wemby. “The second argument would be that we almost swept OKC in the season, and we dominated them three times against their real team. My third argument would be that offensive impact is not just points.”

His points had merit, which is why this MVP race is more interesting.