Despite Choosing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as MVP Worthy, Paul Pierce Reveals High Expectations from Nikola Jokic

Nikola Jokic was awarded his third career MVP title a few days ago. Since then, NBA media has been in shambles about what it thinks is a major snub against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Paul Pierce and Shaquille O’Neal in particular seem the most broken up about this. In fact, O’Neal even got into a scuffle with Shannon Sharpe over just this. Pierce, on the other hand, has successfully avoided any personal troubles but has shown no signs of stopping his advocacy for the OKC star anytime soon.

On an episode of UNDISPUTED, he said, “What Joker did during the regular season is just MVP-ish, from top to bottom. The numbers is not gonna lie. Does Shai have an agrument? Absolutely. When I look at his team, he doesn’t have a second All-Star, nor does Joker… I do believe Jamal as a second-best player is better than what Shai has as a second-best player.”

Now that it’s too late to reverse the decision, The Truth, on the latest episode of Ticket & The Truth, said that Jokic needs to show that he deserves the honor. At the time of recording the episode, the Nuggets were two down against the Wolves in the Conference Semifinals.

“They just named you the MVP. I expect a signature game. I expect Denver to get the dub. I don’t see the champs going down 3-0.”

Paul Pierce will be happy to know that the Nuggets did turn things around in Game 3 with a dominant 117-90 win. Jokic and Murray both scored 24 points and the Joker also had an almost triple-double with 14 rebounds and nine assists.

But while the Joker may have done everything the Boston Celtics legend has asked of him so far, it is still very unlikely he gets his support. And unfortunately, this seems to be the case with Shaquille O’Neal as well.

Shaquille O’Neal told Nikola Jokic that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander deserved the MVP title

It’s one thing to root for a player, but Shaq took it to another level when he tried to step on Jokic’s moment by mentioning Shai. The big fella and the Inside the NBA show was handed the responsibility of breaking the MVP news to the Joker.

The Nuggets star was virtually present on the show to receive the official announcement from Shaq. However, Shaq shockingly used that time to downplay ‘The Joker’s case for MVP.

"You're the best player in the league… I thought SGA should've been the MVP"

Shaq told Jokić he's best player in league but thought SGA should have won MVP 👀 https://t.co/HM8lL0qtje

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 9, 2024

Shaq said, “You’re the best player in the league… I wanted you to hear it from me first… I thought SGA [Shai Gilgeous-Alexander] should’ve been the MVP.”

Many felt that it was offensive, and Shaq shouldn’t have done this. However, the Joker was completely unfazed by what was going on, and just joked about the situation instead.

The complete voting results for the 2023-24 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player. pic.twitter.com/Dqbd7MaRjC

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 8, 2024

A look into the voting result would tell you that Jokic received 926 points with 79 people putting him at the top (per the Oklahoman). In comparison, Shai only received 640 points with only 15 voters putting him in the number one spot.

The major argument for Shai from both the NBA legends was that he did more on the court with less help. Turns out, the media members who voted for the MVP title didn’t see it that way at all.

Perhaps the NBA will look into diversifying the pool of voters so that debates can be fewer and farther between in the future. However, for now, Paul Pierce and Shaquille O’Neal can do nothing more than accept the verdict that has taken place.