NBA Player Poll MVP with Sam Amick

Summary

The Athletic NBA Daily – April 10, 2026

Episode: NBA Player Poll MVP with Sam Amick
Hosts: Dave DuFour, Sam Amick, Esfandiar Baraheni (“S”)
Main Theme: Key NBA storylines in the final week of the regular season, player poll MVP results, and the latest on team turmoil and coaching hot seats.

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the major NBA storylines as the season hits its home stretch, focusing on Joel Embiid’s unfortunate appendicitis, the tension-riddled situation between Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, speculation around coaching changes across the league, and the results of The Athletic’s annual NBA player poll—specifically the MVP vote, with insider detail from Sam Amick.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Joel Embiid’s Appendicitis & Impact on the Sixers (03:30–06:37)

• News: Embiid had emergency appendicitis surgery and will likely miss the season.
• Impact: The Sixers’ playoff hopes are considered all but dashed. The hosts discuss the “freak luck” nature of this incident, distinguishing between recurring injury issues and sheer bad breaks.
  • Quote – Sam Amick (04:11):
    “No pun intended, Nick Nurse, is that I felt like I had it in my mind that appendicitis is pretty routine and it is not—the pain was pretty high ... the idea that you would be coming back anytime soon to do the types of things that Joel Embiid does is not very likely.”
• Personal Connection: Sam shares his wife’s experience with appendicitis—as “someone who played nurse”—emphasizing how difficult recovery is even for non-athletes.

2. Giannis and the Bucks: Drama, Trades, and Playoff Fallout (06:37–12:17)

• Context: Ongoing friction between Giannis and the Bucks, particularly over being held out while healthy enough to play.
  • Quote – Sam Amick (07:37):
    “Part of why we continue to hear it is because Giannis is, for lack of a better way of putting it, just really pissed that they're holding him out … bucket list basketball items, like playing with your brothers.”
• Trade Rumors: Leaks of potential trade offers (notably from the Miami Heat) are discussed, with speculation on when and where Giannis might be moved.
• Fan Perspective: The hosts believe Milwaukee fans won’t turn on Giannis even if he’s traded after all he’s done for the franchise.
  • Quote – Sam Amick (10:33):
    “I have a very hard time thinking that the City of Milwaukee is going to turn on Giannis.”
• Coaching Situation: Doc Rivers seems poised to exit but is technically still under contract. Sam suggests Doc may be shifted into an advisory role to preserve his pay.
  • Quote – Sam Amick (12:05):
    "If he wants that money, you know, they're going to have to find some sort of agreement."

3. Around the League: Coaching Hot Seats (12:24–19:52)

• Portland: Tiago Splitter is doing well but uncertain to keep the job.
• New Orleans: James Borrego, similarly, has done a solid job but has an uncertain future.
• Orlando: Jamal Mosley is under scrutiny after underachieving post-trade for Desmond Bane.
  • Quote – Sam Amick (13:05):
    “Mosley's an interesting one because...there has been a lot of smoke around him for quite some time…that one is one that people are watching closely.”
• Cleveland: The James Harden trade helped, but there’s pressure on the Cavs to make a deep playoff run.
  • Exchange (14:44–16:43):
    Dave questions if a conference finals exit would endanger the coaching staff; Sam notes the turnaround since Harden's arrival but acknowledges higher expectations.
  • Quote – Sam Amick (16:43):
    “31 and 12 since that start. They're a very good team. Do I see them knocking off, you know, OKC or San Antonio in the Finals? Probably not…But yes, coaching wise, I think, you know, they need to make some noise for sure.”
• Sacramento: Doug Christie’s coaching tenure questioned after a late-game foul controversy, though Sam notes much of the Kings’ struggle is roster-related and not solely coaching.
  • Quote – Sam Amick (19:28):
    "I have no idea if he can coach because... They just have been such a mess as they try to reshape this roster and are off to a pretty slow start doing it.”
  • Memorable Moment (19:36–19:59):
    Dave & Sam compare taking over the Kings to being handed a dog's leash without warning: “This dog, it might run away. It might do his business on your leg. You don't know what's going on.”

4. The Athletic’s NBA Player Poll – MVP Results (23:07–30:46)

• Overview: More than a third of NBA players participated, the largest ever. The poll’s results are being rolled out over weeks; MVP is first.
  • Quote – Sam Amick (24:09):
    “We ended up polling more than a third of the NBA. The most responses that we've ever had. It's in the 160 plus neighborhood. All Anonymous...the MVP is a really good place to start.”
• Result: Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Shea) was the overwhelming MVP choice with twice as many votes as the next closest player.
  • Quote – Sam Amick (24:45):
    “...the winner is none other than Oklahoma City's Shea Gilgeous-Alexander. It was not particularly close. Roughly twice the votes for Shea than any other candidate.”
• Runner-Up: Nikola Jokic (Denver).
  Next tier: Jalen Brown, Cade Cunningham, Luka Doncic.
  Victor Wembanyama was 6th despite recent noise.
• Analysis: Shea received praise for being a true two-way player.
  • Quote – Dave Dufour (29:00):
    “Not enough is said about what Shae Gilgeous-Alexander does on the defensive side of the ball. ... He does play a lockdown defense. … He’s had a very complete season, both sides of the ball.”
• They also debate the defensive bonafides of Brown, Shea, and Wembanyama, noting the impact of team context and that Wemby’s net rating swing is “just wild.”
• Future Poll Questions Teased: Which team will win the title? More “spicy” categories to come.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Sam Amick, on Embiid’s bad luck (04:11):
  “It is not [routine]. The pain was pretty high … I’m confident saying, you know, it's a pretty serious procedure. And the idea that you would be coming back anytime soon to do the types of things that Joel Embiid does is not very likely.”
• Sam Amick, on Giannis/Bucks (07:37):
  “Giannis is ... really pissed that they're holding him out.”
• Dave Dufour, on the Kings coaching mess (19:36):
  “He was handed the Kings the same way somebody hands you the leash to their dog when they have too much stuff... How can you expect him to do a good job under these circumstances?”
• Sam Amick, on the player poll (24:09):
  “This is just an absolute heavy lift marathon of an undertaking. But one of my favorite projects that we do… We ended up polling more than a third of the NBA.”

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Timestamps by Segment

• 02:17 – Show open, Embiid’s appendicitis injury status
• 03:30 – Sam Amick’s insight into severity of appendicitis for athletes
• 05:34 – Discussion of Embiid’s injury-prone narrative and Sixers’ fate
• 06:37 – Giannis/Bucks relationship breakdown and trade rumors
• 10:33 – On whether Milwaukee fans will turn on Giannis
• 12:05 – Doc Rivers’ uncertain future, possibility for advisory role
• 13:05 – Coaching hot-seat discussion (Mosley, Borrego, Splitter)
• 14:44 – Cavs coaching and “win-now” pressure post-Harden trade
• 16:43 – Cavs as a legit contender but needing deep playoff run
• 19:28 – Kings/Christie coaching confusion, foul incident explained
• 23:07 – Introduction to the Player Poll MVP
• 24:09 – Sam Amick gives context to the size and format of the poll
• 24:45 – Shea Gilgeous-Alexander named the players' MVP
• 30:46 – Preview of upcoming player poll topics

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Tone and Style

Relaxed but insightful; hosts mix sharp NBA analysis with moments of humor and banter, especially when discussing coaching chaos and the absurdities of NBA drama. Sam Amick brings in-the-room reporting, and the roundtable is conversational and engaging.

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Useful for Who?

This summary is ideal for NBA fans wanting a distilled, comprehensive, and colorful account of the league’s late-season drama—injuries, turmoil, and shifting pecking orders—plus a uniquely revealing look at players’ perspectives on this year’s MVP race, without slogging through ads or preamble.

Transcript

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[Dave Dufour]

Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for April 10, 2026. I'm Dave Dufour here with Sam Amick in SB Henny. Coming up, we're going to talk about Joel Embiid's appendicitis, Giannis and the Bucks drama and we're going to hit on the straw pole. MVP winner. Good morning everybody. What is up guys? We got two guys on location. S is in an arena. He's at the rap.

[S]

I might as well be at a concert with how this music is playing.

[Dave Dufour]

So Sam Amick looks like he's on vacation here. You're outside a Chase Center. What a beautiful view behind an arena.

[Sam Amick]

Not bad, right? I mean, I figured if I was a few minutes late, at least I could do is provide a little scenery.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, it looks great.

[Sam Amick]

Folks who haven't been here, we'll do a little visual for the video audience. It's a little San Francisco Bay. Behind you. We got the arena exclusive stuff for

[S]

the YouTube audience right here.

[Sam Amick]

Yes.

[Dave Dufour]

That's awesome. That's where Clay pull his boat up right there. If you guys are listening, this is

[Sam Amick]

probably not right this direction behind me, that's where Clay would cruise across the bay. And as somebody who grew up in this neck of the woods, it. It never gets old. It's pretty nice out here.

[Dave Dufour]

Sadly, we've. We've got to start the show off on with some bad news. Joel Embiid has appendicitis and had to have emergency surgery yesterday. So he is probably just done for the year. It seems like when this happens to NBA players, they're out at least three weeks. This team is basically fighting for its life in the play in right now. Sam, we were talking about this earlier this week. Embiid's kind of been sick for a little bit. And I mean, I don't know if these are related. Like, has he had appendicitis this entire time? Like, I don't know. I mean, you know, it feels like a very precarious situation.

[Sam Amick]

No, I agree. And it's funny, guys. There are not oftentimes or, you know, where us regular folks can have a little bit of insight to what some of these pro athletes go to. This is or go through. This is one of the few where when I saw this update, my mind went straight to and I said, I have not gotten permission from. From my better half to share this. We're going to go for it anyway. My wife had appendicitis a few months ago, and she did not have to return to NBA action. She does not dunk the ball or do any of the things that these guys do, especially a guy who's that big like Joel Embiid. But the takeaway from her, and as somebody who played nurse for a little bit during that time, no pun intended, Nick Nurse, is that I felt like I had it in my mind that appendicitis is pretty routine and it is not like the pain was pretty high. To your question, Dave about some of the other stuff that he was going through, and without getting into like, you know, irrelevant details, like she actually had similar stuff where, you know, symptoms that were there before disappeared once she got the surgery. So at minimum, I'm confident saying, you know, it's a pretty serious procedure. And the idea that you would be coming back anytime soon to do the types of things that Joel Embiid does is not very likely.

[S]

It's also one of those things where it's so unfortunate to happen. The timing of it is terrible. But on top of the timing, it's of course, to Joel Embi, who has for years been dealing with injuries and the narrative around him not being able to be healthy. This is just one of those situations where it feels like sheer luck.

[Dave Dufour]

It's another freak injury. It's a freaky injury, right? I mean, this guy has. It's awful luck at this point. I just don't know. You know, players are tagged with the injury prone moniker and you can say that some about Embiid, but some of this stuff is just, it is freak injury. I mean, he gets appendicitis right before the playoffs start. You know, I mean, I don't, I feel bad for the guy. It's. It's brutal. He clearly had to work pretty hard to get back to where he was this season. Now, you know, he's going to have to go through this. And the Sixers season pretty much over. You know, the idea that they could be some kind of a tough out in the east, we've been playing around

[Sam Amick]

with that for a little bit. Right.

[S]

I don't think that's going to happen anymore.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. Anyway, I mean, it's, that's, it's bad news, but, you know, good luck to Joel. Hope you get healthy. Sam, I want to talk to you about the Giannis situation with the Bucks. You know, we, we feel like Doc Rivers, he's, you know, singing his swan song. He's probably already got his tee times booked, probably not too far from you. And I don't know, man, it just feels like I'm watching the rats try to scurry off of a sinking ship. Giannis clearly doesn't want to be there. The trades that didn't happen have started to leak out. You know, we're hearing about all the teams that were involved, including what I thought was a pretty decent offer from the Miami Heat. And I'm just confused why we keep hearing about Giannis and the Bucks when he hasn't played in weeks. The Bucks haven't been in contention in a long time. And it feels like the once they didn't make the trade at the deadline, we all assumed this was just gonna happen in the summer. Why is there still so much drama?

[Sam Amick]

Well, it's funny, as I was scrambling to come join you guys and find a good spot to do the podcast, the latest update crosses my phone, and it's our Bucs BE writer Eric Naim sharing that Bucks GM John Horst not only, you know, the team had not only ruled Giannis out for the season finale, but Jon went on record to specifically addressing the fact that Giannis really wanted to play with his two brothers, Thanassis and Alex. And that's something I don't believe has ever happened. So part of why we continue to hear it is because Giannis is, for lack of a better way of putting it, just really pissed that they're holding him out. And then it gets a little personal when you talk about kind of, you know, bucket list basketball items, like playing with your brothers. And then, like I wrote the other day, you have the fact that both parties, even with all this acrimony, continue to try to act as if there's maybe a 5% chance they stay together. You know what I mean? Like, Giannis got asked by Lori Nichol of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week if, you know, if this marriage could be reconciled and Giannis would not rule it out. So, that being said, certainly around the league, people expect something to happen in the summertime. And one thing I tried to hit on in my column was that, you know, any assertion that the Bucks were trying to tank makes no sense. They are. They're putting Giannis in bubble wrap is what they're doing. And it's for their own purposes and for trade purposes. And it is definitely a little dirty. I understand it. But it's, you know, but when you have an elite pro athlete who says, I'm ready to play, and one who in the past has pushed through injury to help you win a championship and, you know, whatever, they were trying to achieve something as a group, they didn't have any problem with him playing hurt. And so now to shelve him, you can certainly understand the hypocrisy of that framing, if you will. But, yeah, it just continues to be ugly and just continues to get worse.

[S]

Is there, is there a way for this situation to end up in a win win where Giannis ends up happy and where the Bucks end up happy at all? Or are we, are we destined for someone to come out as the loser in this situation?

[Sam Amick]

No. I think, you know, you could. There's trades out there that could make the Bucks and their fans feel like this is making the best of a bad situation. And I think with the fans, I could be wrong. We've seen fan bases turn on plenty of guys before, but, you know, even with all of this, I have a very hard time thinking that the City of Milwaukee is going to turn on Giannis. I think he's worried about that. I think that's why. I mean, if you think about it, you know, I don't have their schedule in front of me, you know. Now it appears that his potentially last game in a Bucks jersey was going to be, you know, a month ago.

[Dave Dufour]

Right.

[Sam Amick]

That's not befitting of a guy who has accomplished what he has for that organization. You know, at a perfect world where you script it the way you want, you would just have something a little rosier. It doesn't typically go down that way, so. But I could see a win. Win, because I do think there's going to be a lot of interest this summer. And I think, honestly, objectively, the Bucks did the right thing, in my opinion, by not doing something at the deadline. Now we'll see. I might be wrong. There's. There's. There's teams that don't feel that way. I mean, I had an anonymous quote from an executive in my piece talking about how they overplayed their hand and that egos get in the way of doing the right thing. So, you know, but that's. That's a team that is. Is going for the guy. You know what I mean? So we'll see how it pans out. But. But I could see a win.

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[Dave Dufour]

We. We know the Bucks are going to be looking for a new coach. I'm making assumptions about a few other teams. You know, I believe that in one

[Sam Amick]

thing, though, Dave, real quick, that it keeps getting glossed over a little bit. Like, I agree, Doc is publicly saying goodbye, and. But he has a year left on his contract, and he's not been fired. And I don't know the outcome. This was informed speculation, but I wrote about how, you know, they could move him into an advisory role, put it somewhere like. But they're going to. There is a lack of resolution there, because I have been told that he has absolutely, like, he is not walking away from that money like that is happening.

[Dave Dufour]

Oh, so he may have to work.

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[Dave Dufour]

All right.

[Sam Amick]

I think it means that, you know, he. He doesn't necessarily have to be on the team playing for 41 road games. A year?

[Dave Dufour]

Sure.

[Sam Amick]

But, but if he wants that money, you know, they're going to have to find some sort of agreement.

[S]

He can zoom in to the advisory meetings from where you're at Grandkids House.

[Sam Amick]

Yeah, that's right.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. Would we know the difference? That's the question. Look, I, I've got my, my assumptions about some of the jobs that are going to be available. Tiago Splitter's done a good job in Portland, but I, I'm not sure if he's going to get that job. James Borrego, I think, has done a good job in New Orleans. I, I don't know if he's going to keep that job. Jamal Mosley has been on the hot seat all year and I, I just don't have a lot of confidence. As we head into the playoffs, have you heard anything about potential coaching changes that we might be seeing? I mean, this is the last week of the regular season. Obviously some of these teams we're talking about may have play in implications, might make it to the playoffs. So this stuff would be delayed. But what are you hearing on the coaching front?

[Sam Amick]

Yeah, I mean, you, you got us off to a good start there, Dave, with that, you know, kind of those educated guesses, I think you're on the right track. I mean, Mosley's an interesting one because last I checked, I think they're in ninth. This is a team that went all in for the Desna Bain trade and had, you know, big time expectations and there has been a lot of smoke around him for quite some time. So that one is one that people are watching closely. You know, Borrego as well. Thiago as well. Because I don't have the whole list in front of me, you guys are going to have to pull me through and throw teens at me.

[Dave Dufour]

Well, what about the Cavs, man? I mean, I think that the Cavs is a situation where you had the disappointing early exit last season after a great regular season. You've made the all in trade on James Harden for this year and it hasn't been great. I mean, you know, is there a world where if they don't make the conference finals, they're looking for a new coach?

[Sam Amick]

I'm gonna have a little fun with you and push down. Are you sure? Like they.

[S]

That's right.

[Sam Amick]

It'd be pretty good.

[Dave Dufour]

I know, but I'm saying if they don't make the conference finals, like, is

[Sam Amick]

there, is there pretty good, like it, like. So what I, what I think is you're not. Tell me it's been okay.

[Dave Dufour]

I, I just don't think it set the world on fire. Right. Like it's not done. They've not moved up the. Up the standings the way I, I expected them to.

[Sam Amick]

Digging in here.

[Dave Dufour]

Oh, he's gonna pull the numbers on me.

[Sam Amick]

I gotta look at it. I mean I looked at it the other day. I saw that when they, they came through town.

[Dave Dufour]

I actually, this is a 50 win team. I mean I'm not, I'm not saying that they're not a good basketball team. Four in the East.

[Sam Amick]

First of all, I might be a little guilty of from a narrative standpoint. You know, I talked to Kenny Atkinson when he came through town and he actually made an interesting point about like literally like his paraphrasing here, but his messaging was, I don't care what the numbers say, like we are significantly better equipped for the playoffs now than we were before the trade. He's feeling good now in terms of, you know, the actual results. I mean they've literally won 10 out of 12. Let's see, what do we got? They've been on like 13 out of

[S]

17 win pace since Harden is cup, you know, so. Yeah, like to, to the point, Sam. I, I think it's translating that to next season feels easy when you have Kenny at the helm and he knows everybody else in the organization, right?

[Sam Amick]

Yes, but none of which is to push back completely on you, Dave, because I think if they fall flat, we will be watching very closely. They, I'll put it this way, the first half of the year there was some, you know, some clunky, messy kind of, you know, chatter coming out of Cleveland when it comes to is everybody on the same page? Where is this going? A lot of frustration that they'll talk about openly at this point. Donovan Mitchell in particular kind of read the room and was like, you know, Darius Garland obviously was having major health issues in and out of the lineup and, and even when he was in the lineup, you know, the fit was always a question. So they, I think it's gone in a much better direction. But I do think they have to do big things in this playoff run. They do. You know what I mean? This is a team that had the best record in the east last year and, and so those expectations have not gone away, I think. Didn't they, when I cheat again here. I mean when you start, you know, roughly 500, I think 19 and 17.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, they, they had that rough start, they had that huge payroll. They had a good trade deadline. Right. Like, and they've been better since then, James Harden's availability has made a huge difference.

[Sam Amick]

31 and 12 since that start. They're a very good team. Do I see him knocking off, you know, OKC or San Antonio in the Finals? Probably not. You know, could I see him being in the Finals? I could. I probably wouldn't handicap them as the top team, but, like, if you told me that I'm not going to fall out of my chair. But yes, coaching wise, I think, you know, they need to make some noise for sure.

[S]

Can I just say, the transfer between glasses to sunglasses for you in the show has been incredible. I really hope that the YouTubeless Watchers enjoy this. The viewers are having some fun.

[Sam Amick]

I can total dork and go this route.

[S]

Sam, your neck of the woods. Also, the Kings, Doug Christie, it feels like that's also leading to a situation where they might look for a coaching change.

[Dave Dufour]

Do you.

[S]

Do you see that happening?

[Sam Amick]

I'm going to let you guys down on this one just because I need to make some calls. I had assumed as much all year long, but have recently heard, you know, that it might be swinging the other way. So I don't have clarity there. We'll have to figure it out. You know, it's funny to ask or to field that question today because I spent the first half of my day dealing with, you know, this kind of crazy, silly investigation from the league on whether or not Doug Pristy was tanking on Tuesday night against the Warriors. And, you know, the short, short version of that story that relates to this conversation is that it was like, you know, good news, bad news for the Kings. Good news, you're cleared of all wrongdoing. You weren't tanking. Bad news, your coach had a pretty significant blunder, and that was what happened. Not taking he. If anybody missed it. Doug, listen, mistakes happen when guys coach. Yeah, But Doug had three timeouts, 315 left in the game. If the clock, as you know, gets under three minutes, he loses that timeout because every team has two at maximum in the last three minutes. So he doesn't want to lose that timeout. Tells Doug McDermott to foul Seth Curry, thinking that he has a foul to give, Right? Turns out the mistake he makes is that he doesn't have a foul to give. He's in the bonus. And everybody goes crazy because the appearance is that you intentionally fouled a 90% free throw shooter. You must be tanking. And it's like, nah, he thought that he had a foul to give and he didn't. They made a mistake. And even further in the argument, you know, he wanted to design a play for their next possession and he still ended up doing that. Doug McDermott hits a three in the corner on a pretty nice set. So that, that got me thinking about Doug in general, where it's like, there is part of me that think what you will or say what you will about Doug. Like, like, I have no idea if he can coach because.

[Dave Dufour]

Right.

[Sam Amick]

They just have been such a mess as they try to reshape this roster and are off to a pretty slow start doing it.

[Dave Dufour]

It's like, honestly, he was handed to kings the same way somebody hands you the leash to their dog when they have too much stuff in. How can you expect him to do a good job under these circumstances, man? Like, I mean, yeah, you don't know what's going on.

[Sam Amick]

I don't know. This dog, it might run away. It might. It might do his business on your leg. You don't know what's going on.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, I officially feel bad for Doug Christie. Anyway, guys, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk about the athletics player poll and the MVP winner.

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[Sam Amick]

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[Dave Dufour]

It's the second week in April, the last week of the regular season. That means it's a time for a tradition unlike any other the Athletics NBA player poll. Our guy Sam Amic spearheads this along with everyone in the NBA department at the Athletics. So shout out to everybody. Andrew Schleck, man, like that guy, he goes out and asks questions to anybody. It's pretty awesome. Sam this is, this is in my opinion very educational. Like this whole process where we get to hear the players opinion on not just who wins awards but also different things happen around the league. The MVP race has probably been one of the best ones that I've been a part of as far as like covering the NBA. I think we got this nice push, you know, the last six weeks or so between Luca having a crazy march and Wimby doing all the stuff that he's been doing. Obviously Nicola Jokic has been putting up numbers all season long. Who's the MVP according to the players.

[Sam Amick]

Hey my friend, appreciate the promotion this like you said before, I, you know, drum roll this thing and announce the winner. For people who haven't already seen it, this is just an absolute heavy lift marathon of an undertaking. But one of my favorite projects that we do shout out to Josh Robbins and Joe Varden at our place who helped me spearhead it this year as far as collecting everything and then like you said, the entire staff for pitching in. We ended up polling more than a Third of the NBA. The most responses that we've ever had. It's in the 160 plus neighborhood. All Anonymous and the other programming note that I will share it is different. And then I think some people won't like and I think hopefully most do that you're going to be getting a lot of player poll for the next couple months because instead of dropping everything in one fell swoop, we decided to just kind of roll it out, you know, intermittently. So MVP is up first. You know, the next one coming up is going to be which team do players think is going to win the title? And then we'll be on our way from there and we won't draw it out too long. But the MVP is a really good place to start. And the winner is none other than Oklahoma City's Shea Gilgeous Alexander. It was not particularly close. Roughly twice the votes for Shea than any other candidate. But there's also these lines of demarcation. The Joker, Denver's Nikola Jokic was not only second, but again roughly half of Shea. But, but about 3, 3x the next tier.

[Dave Dufour]

Oh wow.

[Sam Amick]

So we, yeah, so we go Shea, then we go Joker and then you got Jalen Brown, Cade Cunningham, Luka Dodcich. We're going to put them in the next tier. Roughly the same amount of votes. And then last but not least, I thought this was one of the more interesting kind of, you know, like you said, you always. It reveals things interesting to me. I don't want to give too much away. But down the line one of the questions is who's the best defensive player in the NBA? You could probably guess who got a lot of those votes, but that same guy like Victor Wemanyama came out a few weeks back and talked about how he thinks he's the mvp. And, and I have absolutely given serious thought to voting for him. I think he's been incredible this year in terms of the player perspective. He, he ends up finishing in sixth, you know, in a decent distance behind Jalen, Kate and Luka. So, you know, that's how the top six rounded out. But Shea obviously getting all kinds of well deserved love from his peers.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, that's, that's honestly, it's very interesting and I, I felt like the, the Jokic case lost momentum as Luca and Wemby sort of picked up steam, you know, and it's not like necessarily Jokic's numbers dropped off. I just think that the Nuggets have been this, this team that's been hard to judge because they've been so unhealthy all year. And really the last, like we. They're on a 10 game winning streak right now. I think they're playing some of their best basketball. And so I'm guessing that when the official results come in, you know, for the mv, the actual mvp, that it's going to be Shea and Jokic one too. I think that the players nailed that.

[Sam Amick]

Yeah, I'd be curious to see because when ESPN did their media poll where they reach out to 100 prospective voters, it's not all, it's not the exact 100, but a lot of voters I think are in that group. I don't have that in front of me, but that was certainly Shea again. And Wemby, I think had a far greater representation in that poll than he does in this one. The Joker thing, it's an interesting discussion because once, you know, now I'm at that time, like a lot of voters or all voters, when you're having to make sure you dig in and look at it again from the scope of the entire season. And it's an interesting exercise because to your point, you do look up and you kind of go, wait a minute, what, like 28, 27, you know, 13 and 12. Like, what are you talking about? Like, I think those marks I wrote in the column, I think 28 and 13 and 12, which he's just south of, like, that's literally never happened in the history of the league. Age of remarkable stuff. And I think Joker is being somewhat overlooked. But yeah, we'll see. We'll see how it fleshes out. I mean, one subplot that we have been tracking is because the spurs had been so good, there was this question of if they could pass the Thunder, would that change the conversation? And truth be told, it shouldn't really matter that much if they come one game short. You know, I think the two right now. But still, you know, we are all looking. These guys are all great, so we're looking for the smallest little separators to justify, you know, however you might end up picking them. But. But it has been a fantastic race.

[Dave Dufour]

I also, I do believe that not enough is said about what Shay Gilder Alexander does on the defensive side of the ball. You know, he doesn't guard the opposing team's best player every night, but he does play a lockdown defense. I mean, this guy has had an excellent season both ways, so. And I know that he's not the target when people say this stuff that, hey, defense is half the game. But Shea has, to me, had a Very complete season. Both sides of the ball.

[Sam Amick]

No, it's. And he, it's funny. I agree with you. I mean, it's, I mean Wemby's impact defensively is far and above anybody else that we're talking about. How do you measure that?

[Dave Dufour]

Right. Like he's, he's got guys sitting on the bench thinking that when I get in the game, I'm not shooting.

[Sam Amick]

Yeah. Like the net rating swing with Wemby and I wish I had all these numbers in front of me. But 17 points for him is just wild. You know, on. Off with saying it's like, okay, tap defense in the league where I admittedly do struggle there is like you said, he's a very good defender. But the more that we've come to appreciate all the guys around him.

[Dave Dufour]

Right.

[Sam Amick]

I think it's, it's taken a little bit of the shine off of like is he a two way player? Yes. Is he a dominant two way player? Not dominant. He's not. You know, even Jaylen Brown. Right. We don't need to debate everybody.

[Dave Dufour]

Right.

[Sam Amick]

Jalen's a very good defender. You know, they, he's not the head of the snake every single night in the way that sometimes he gets talked about. So, you know, we'll see. But again, you can nitpick all these guys but, but a lot of great seasons.

[Dave Dufour]

Jalen Brown might be the third best defender on his starting lineup. You know, I mean, Derek White to me is the premier perimeter defender in the NBA. So, you know, he's pretty lucky to play with that guy. Any, any teases that you want to give us for the rest of the player poll? Anything spicy coming out next week?

[Sam Amick]

Like I said, it'll be, it'll be, it'll be drawn out a bit. I mean, the second, the second question, which team do you know is going to win the title? That one, admittedly is probably lacking a little bit of drama. You could guess, you know, where a lot of those.

[Dave Dufour]

That's right. Well, we'll find out when, when the rest of the player poll drops. Thanks, Sam for hanging out with me. Thanks to S. For joining us for the first half of the show. For Sam Amick and Esperahenny, I'm Dave Dufour. This is Ben the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with. Thanks for listening. Make sure you hit the subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode.

[Sam Amick]

If you enjoyed it.

[Dave Dufour]

Drop a, like leave a rating or let us know in the comments. Thank you guys for waking up with us.

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