“Ain’t Talking About Love”: Shaquille O’Neal Shuns Charles Barkley’s MVP Pick With Harsh Reality Check

The finalists for the regular season awards were announced by Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson, and the entire crew made their ultimate picks for all the accolades. Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Luka Doncic are in a tight race for the Most Valuable Player award this year. Shaquille O’Neal went with the Oklahoma City Thunder superstar to win the MVP, but Charles Barkley has someone outside the above three finalists in his mind. Sadly, Shaq put Barkley’s case to sleep, and here’s how.

Even before the OKC Thunder finished first in the West, Shaq chose Gilgeous-Alexander to win the MVP. However, there is someone in the Eastern Conference who has done something very similar. Barkley said on TNT, “There’s five guys that you could vote this year and I will have no problem.“ The co-hosts were surprised, but Barkley continued, “You don’t think Jalen Brunson deserves some love?“

Shaq hilariously replied, “Yeah, but we ain’t talking about love. We talking about the MVP. We talking about no consideration,“ as the crew burst into laughter. However, what’s to be noted is that Jalen Brunson led the New York Knicks to the second seed, without his star teammate Julius Randle post the All-Star break. So, Barkley wouldn’t be surprised if Brunson got a few first-place votes. 

Brunson’s chances of winning an MVP over Gilgeous-Alexander are nearly zero. It’s already a tight race between the Canadian guard and Nikola Jokic. However, Barkley is not wrong for making a case for Brunson. 

What could be the one factor that gives Shai Gilgeous-Alexander an advantage over Jalen Brunson?

Brunson averaged 28.7, 6.7 assists, and 3.6 rebounds in the regular season for the New York Knicks. Even though Julius Randle missed the second half of the regular season, Brunson took care of business with his former Villanova Wildcats teammates Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart. In fact, the Knicks moved up from the 4th seed to the 2nd seed, right before the season came to an end. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the same time averaged 30.1 points, 6.2 assists, and 5.5 rebounds for the Thunder. 

The only difference here is that Gilgeous-Alexander managed to clinch the top spot in a tight Western Conference, against the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves, who were fighting for the first seed as well. Also, OKC did not even make it to the playoffs last year. That’s a massive improvement, isn’t it? The Knicks made it to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals last season. This doesn’t eliminate Brunson’s excellent display, but like Shaquille O’Neal said, this is not an award for consideration.