The Knicks and Nuggets are surging, while the Warriors watch their window close. Meanwhile, the Cavs and Thunder have their business on lock.

This stretch of January around Martin Luther King Jr. Day is usually peak evaluation time in the NBA front-office world. It’s one of the milestone points where teams will have full-staff pow-wows and talk things out,

After the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Washington Wizards in a 136-95 blowout win, All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander weighed in on his place in the Most Valuable Player conversation. During his postgame media availability, Gilgeous-Alexander addressed being an MVP candidate.

In mid-December, Denver’s Nikola Jokic had a healthy lead on Gilgeous-Alexander in ESPN’s MVP straw poll, conducted several times over the course of each season by Tim Bontemps.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dismissed concerns about his free-throw statistics, emphasizing that his sole focus was on ensuring the Oklahoma City Thunder came out on top.