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Jono discusses the MVP race in basketball, mentioning Kawhi Leonard and Tyrese Halliburton as honorable mentions. He then talks about the top five contenders: Jason Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA), and Luka Doncic. Jono highlights their performances, stats, and impact on their teams. He believes Luka has a strong chance to win the award due to his impressive scoring and playmaking abilities, especially with the addition of new teammates. Yo what's good y'all it's Jono back from Topgolf Central and in today's video I'm going to be going over the overall MVP race and some of the guys that I think should be in the top five and let's get right into it. And before we get into it I'm going to go ahead and go over some of the honorable mentions that I believe that kind of should have been in this conversation but just didn't make the cut. And with the first honorable mention and that being Kawhi Leonard I mean there's not much to say but he's just been insane this year. This is all-time efficiency high for Kawhi and he's just been really everything but flawless when it comes to playing for this team this season. He's been there he really hasn't gotten injured at all this year and I would go up to say that this is his most healthiest and most efficient season so far in his career honestly. And currently Kawhi right now is shooting 53 percent from the field and he also has a career high true shooting percentage right now with a percentage of almost 64 percent right at 63.8 and it's just safe to say that Kawhi has been at another level this season. And real quick if y'all could make sure to drop a like on the video now let's get right back into it. So yeah Kawhi has been amazing this season and also a player that I thought was in it for quite some time and that being Tyrese Halliburton. I think he was definitely you know giving them a run for the money in this MVP race because he had the pacers on his back and his playmaking ability that he was showing us was absolutely insane. He was such a good team player and he's just so effective on this team by making everyone better and he's definitely the best overall point guard as a playmaker I'd say in the league. I mean this man in December was putting up 20 plus assist games. He had like a 20 against I believe it was the Bulls and then against the Knicks he did it as well he had 23 assists in that game and 22 points. But yeah Tyrese he's just been amazing this year and honestly one of my favorite players to watch. But yeah these are the two players that I would say deserve an honorable mention because of how effective they've been and just how solid of a season that they've had. So let's get right into the five guys that I think deserve to be in this MVP discussion. Let's get right into it. Now with the first player we're going to talk about in this conversation and that being Jason Tatum and obviously the Celtics are the first seed in the east right now. So that is one thing to take into effect and currently this year he's putting up 27 points a game, eight and a half rebounds, almost five assists, and he has a 60.5 true shooting percentage this season. And the Celtics are kind of such a stacked overall team that he doesn't really have to go out there and score 30 points on any given night because I believe Tatum could really do so if he wanted to because we've seen it so many times. And he just has a huge impact in all the aspects of his game and he's also creating more opportunities for his teammates this season with a career high 4.8 assists per game. And he is someone that I do believe is very underrated when it does come to this conversation and he's only missed three games this year which he's been a huge part of Boston's success this year. And he's just such a huge reason on why they're 44 and 12 right now and on a seven game winning streak and they're nine and one in their last 10 games. And I'd say it's pretty easy to look over his stats but if you watch him in the game you can see how he truly impacts himself and his teammates around him. With the next player up we have Giannis Anadicompo. Now Giannis is yet again having another terrific season himself. He's putting up almost 31 points a game and shooting a career best 61.6 percent from the field. He's grabbing 11 boards as well a game, also a career high in assist as well and steals. He's putting up a 1.4 in that and he's just had a terrific year himself so far but the Milwaukee Bucs just really haven't lived up to their standards on what they believe they thought they was going to do heading into the season. And this is a team that you would think would either be first or at least second in the east right now but they are third behind the Cavs and with Doc Rivers being their new head coach they've had a record of three and seven and this team just seems like it's falling downhill. And one of the really only positive things is you know Giannis and how he's been performing this year because obviously his teammate Damian Lillard who was expected to come and drop at least 30 points per game on this team I'd say at least like 28. He just hasn't been efficient at all and it's putting up around like I believe 24 points a game and Damian just hasn't lived up to the hype yet but Giannis overall has had a really good season and he's had so many crazy performances this year to be able to help the Bucs you know overcome so many obstacles like versus Indiana whenever he dropped 64 points in a matter of 37 minutes he was very efficient. He shot 71.4 percent from the field and the only thing he really missed was like you know his free throws and his threes that game. He didn't really miss any twos at all and Giannis will just keep continuing to be himself and just dominate the entire league on any given night. It's just crazy how dominant Giannis truly is. I mean there's no one that can really stop him when he's going coast to coast in the paint and if you try to really stop him he's going to get fouled and he may not be the best free throw shooter but he's going to give his team some points and he's also really solid from the defensive end. He can stop defenders whether that's them driving on him and he's also really good at poking balls loose to get transition points. He's just shown a lot of really good things this season for this team. Now next up we got Nikola Jokic and why he could win the award. Now Jokic is having another great year. He's putting up 26 points per game, 9 assists and 12 rebounds. He's just helped lead this team to a overall record of 37-19. He's just such a effective and efficient player. I mean last night against the Wizards he was really doing everything on the offensive end. He was setting up multiple players for different shots. He had 15 assists in that game and whether that was him kicking it out to the corner for Christian Braun to hit a three or that was him doing a behind the back pass to I believe it was Aaron Gordon. He was just able to create so many shots for this team and it just really goes to show why he is such a great piece and could definitely win the MVP because he can do whatever it takes on the offensive end to get his team a bucket. Whether that's him posting up somebody down low to be able to make like a hook shot or him just being able to grab an offensive rebound to put it back up or kicking it out to you know Jamal Murray or just whoever it may be. He is just such a good overall offensive player and I've never really seen anything like it from a big man and he's just like a human highlight reel especially when it comes to passing because last night he did a full court pass and made it look easy as he threw it to Aaron Gordon and Aaron Gordon threw it down but I feel like I don't need to talk much more on the reasoning on why Nikola Jokic is a top three MVP candidate. Now let's get right into the next player and that being SGA. Now I believe that Shea has been one of the best you know candidates that I've talked about so far because how he's impacted this team as a whole. Putting them at second in the western conference right now and they just had a terrific game against the Los Angeles Clippers where they won by 22 points with a total score of 129 to 107 and he helped put on the clinic against his former team. He put up 31 points which was pretty impressive and that's usually what he does on a nightly basis and it was a pretty good overall performance especially against one of the best teams in the west right now and I just love Shea because his overall ability on the offensive end to be able to create shots and he's just so good off the dribble. He can truly get to the basket with ease and he's able to draw fouls as well very easily and it really doesn't matter what kind of defender you put in front of SGA. He's able to score on them or at least be able to absorb some contact and get fouled. Like for instance he did a layup right over Regal Bear. You know he's one of the best overall post defenders in the league. Now that's the end on my discussion on why I think Shea could win the award. Now let's move on to the next and final player that I believe could win it and that being Luka Doncic. Now Luka is having a insane year this season. He is putting up a career high in points right now at 34.3. He's shooting 49.2 percent from the field and he's also shooting a career best on his three point percentage as well and he's also been able to develop even better as a playmaker with Kyrie on his team and honestly I just think it's really impressive to do what he's doing every night you know back to back especially with how good Kyrie has been playing this year and you wouldn't think this man would be averaging over 34 points a game. For instance just last night against the Phoenix Suns I mean he had 41 points and almost a triple double. He had 11 assists and nine boards and if the Mavericks continue at this rate I believe Luka will be locked in for sure in my opinion on winning this MVP because now with these new additions of these two guys and that being Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington I just personally believe it changes the whole game for this MVP race because I think the Mavericks are honestly heading for the top and personally I think they'll finish with a top three seed and Luka seems to be improving on areas that he wasn't as good at before such as his defense. He just looks more motivated on the defensive end as well. He's moving so much faster and he just looks like he's actually trying to make plays on the defensive end compared to his past seasons. Now he does kind of struggle with like transition defense. I'd say he definitely improved on his post defense and his iso defense whenever he's going one-on-one but it's great to see him actually trying to improve his defense and the final thing I'd say that has been another positive thing about Luka is he's gotten better at playing off the ball because usually Luka has been known for being an iso heavy you know I'm saying and just being able to usually keep the ball in his hands and just try to make a play and now it seems like this year we're seeing a lot more spot ups from Luka so that's a really good positive that I have to say but I definitely have to say that Luka is number one in my opinion personally to win the MVP. Now let me know down below in the comments who do you guys think is going to win the MVP towards the end of the season and as always don't forget to like subscribe and turn on post notifications and I'm out.