Michael Malone gave his passionate opinion on the NBA MVP race

It’s that time of year again, Nuggets fans.

Every year, as the clocks spring forward and the NBA season nears its end, talks regarding Nikola Jokic and the league’s Most Valuable Player Award heat up. After a lights-out performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder Monday night, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone hopped in on the debate.

“If you didn’t know Nikola [Jokic] won three MVPs, and I put Player A and Player B on paper, and you had no idea the guy was averaging a triple double, the guy who was top three in the major statistical categories, things that no one’s ever done, he wins the MVP 10 times out of 10,” Malone said postgame. “And if you don’t think so I think you guys are all full of s—.”

Jokic currently is not the favorite to win his fourth MVP, but the race is nowhere near being over with just about a month left in the regular season, as the odds slightly shifted in his favor after Monday. The Serbian big man had 35 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists Monday going toe-to-toe with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the favorite for the award.

It’s no surprise to anyone that Malone stepped up for his best player, but he made sure to speak on the greatness of Gilgeous-Alexander as well. Talks regarding the award have gotten so toxic in recent years that instead of celebrating the players in the race, many people have tried to drag one player down to highlight another.

That’s not the guy Malone is.

“I will never negative recruit. Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] is not a good player, [he’s] a great player, and if he wins it I’ll actually clap my hands and be happy for him, because he’s such a great guy who’s a great player and good for this game,” Malone said. “It’s not Nikola versus Shai. For me, it’s me promoting my guy because I know what he means to this game.”

After Monday’s performance, Jokic is now averaging 28.9 points, 13 rebounds and 10.5 assists per game. All of those numbers are top three in the league, which no one else has done before.

There have been five instances in NBA history of a player averaging a triple double for the entire regular season (Russell Westbrook 4x, Oscar Robertson 1x). Only two of the five seasons saw the player averaging at least 28.9 points per game.

As Malone said, none of this is an effort to lessen what Gilgeous-Alexander has done. The Thunder superstar is averaging 32.7 points per game while leading his team to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference (and the race isn’t close). He has shooting splits of 52/37/90, just short of the decorated 50/40/90 club.

If Jokic keeps up his performances, and the Nuggets keep winning games, this could become a tight race for MVP down the stretch. With a tough schedule ahead, Malone knows that winning games takes priority.

“[The MVP conversation] is going to pick up a lot more steam as we go down the stretch, understandably so… I’m more worried about, can we find a way to go home and compete against [Minnesota] and the Lakers coming up.”