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Shaquille O’Neal, Who Has Snubbed the Suns for Warriors, Makes Shocking Devin Booker MVP Claim With Steve Nash Comparison

Published 03/26/2022, 11:00 AM EDT

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The Phoenix Suns have been rolling through the competition in the NBA. With a solid core and finals grudge still on their shoulders, they are looking to make a trip back. They successfully clinched the first seed even in the absence of their general, Chris Paul. Much of the credit goes to Devin Booker who is having a career year. However, despite his efforts, he isn’t a pick to be the MVP this season. Recently, Shaquille O’Neal put up a story comparing Book’s case to his MVP rival, Steve Nash.

Nash beat the Big Diesel in the 2004-05 season. It was the Nets head coach’s first season in Phoenix. He took the Suns from a 29 win team to an astonishing 62 win team in his first season. During this time he averaged 14 points and led the league in assists.

On the other hand, Shaq was still dominating with 22.9 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 assists in his first year on the Miami Heat. In a controversial call, Nash beat the Big Aristotle to the award and O’Neal is still salty about it to this day.

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However, now another young Phoenix guard is putting up perhaps greater numbers but isn’t making the discussion. And Shaq pointed that out by comparing Book’s season to Nash’s MVP over him.

Shaquille O’Neal backs Devin Booker using Steve Nash

Shaq is a very active personality on social media. He is often posting basketball-related content that makes sense to his viewpoint. Likewise, he posted a story regarding Devin Booker’s impressive season being compared to Nash. While Nash won the award averaging 14 and 11, Booker is almost doubling his scoring average while posting 6 assists per game. Hence, Shaq decided to back Booker in his own way.

The post said: “Steve Nash won MVP winning 60+ games averaging 16 and 11. Book gonna win 60+ averaging 26 and 6 and won’t even get consideration.”

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USA Today via Reuters

The MVP award has always been controversial. The norms are often dictated more by team success over an individual. However, when it comes to Booker, he has both going for him. Booker is the leading scorer on the best team in the league. He ranks 9th on the scoring leaders list, averaging 26.3 points per game.

However, he doesn’t even get a mention to be the MVP this season. The big man trio of Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo dominate the race.

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READ MORESaint Peter’s Peacocks, Who Beat Purdue in March Madness, Boast a Head Coach Who Beat Kobe Bryant to an MVP Once

But with the long case of team success coming in, there is no doubt Booker deserves to have his name as a top contender. He has helped the Suns tremendously in the absence of CP3 and continues to evolve his scoring arsenal. In the coming years, do you think Booker will win an MVP? Let us know in the comments below.

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Written by:

Anuj Talwalkar

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Anuj Talwalkar is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. He is a student studying at NM College in Mumbai, aspiring to pursue sports management to follow his love for sports. Anuj started following the NBA last year, and he loves to combine his passion for writing with his understanding of basketball.
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Edited by:

Arunaditya Aima