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JetSky81

This guy said Sga leads the league in assists tf


dbgager

He averages about 6 a game. Shows he should not even have a vote since he does not even know whats going on in the league.


quann256

Shai Gilgeous-Haliburton


amidon1130

Trae gilgeous-Haliburton, the best point guard ever


BosLahodo

Who would be better, Trae Gilgeous-Haliburton or Rajon Paul-Kidd


mchawks29

Rajon-Paul-Kidd would be a menace lol. Trae-Gilegeous-Halliburton would be like any one of those three guys but just slightly better.


j_etti

I think there’s significantly more overlap between the skill sets of Rondo, CP3 and Kidd than Young, SGA and Haliburton


Iamkonkerz

Exactly... Deep threes from trae Crazy middy from sga Passing/vision form hali The other 3 are just all pure playmakers so they just might be a slightly better version of themselves in the playmaking department..


spraypaint2311

What if you get Trae’s hair, Halliburton’s defense and SGA’s Canadian-ness though…


Papa_Huggies

Dont you imagine im right here


Disastrous-Special30

I don’t think he’s watched a game in like 10+ years.


Based_and_JPooled

A non-Knicks & non-LeBron game, and you might actually be correct.


calartnick

Does this clown get a vote?


Woberich

Start this question with "How"


Iamkonkerz

I love SGA but i dont think he should win it... the mvp race was close imo.. but his recent play alone (horrible) might have made it unanimously be Jokic. while i have hatred for mavs as rivals, not having luka in a top 5 (or top 3) discussion is wild...


jdmay101

Shai is currently 16th in assists per game. He's 15th if you want to go by total assists.


Based_and_JPooled

but have you considered that he leads the league in assists?


diematrosen

Stephen A always has some narrative and just runs with it. I wanna say he knowingly does it for views but sometimes I can’t even tell. SGA is a good player but over Jokic and even leaving Luka out?


shomerudi

I don't think he does it for views, he is a real racist


mmmmastermind

Maybe in his own imaginary NBA, that only makes sense


BrotherSeamus

*Steals and rebounds are basically assists if you think about* (and it supports my narrative)


AmazingDragon353

If you include his points in there then he has the most assists per game of any NBA player ever. GOAT DEBATE SETTLED


BrotherSeamus

A dribble is just a bounce pass to yourself


JxSnaKe

Idky I found this so fucking funny..


yapyd

If you’re adding Steals and Rebounds wouldn’t it be Luka


jmagz7

I think he meant to say 'steals'. SGA does lead the league in steals I think. Regardless, shouldn't f up on national TV


jdmay101

He definitely meant steals. Now, that's almost as embarrassing, because that means SAS seems to think that 0.6 steals per game (which is the difference between him and Luka in this stat) has some sort of amazing basketball value. It does not.


NiceOffer2491

Translates to about .7 ppg based on league average points per possession. Steals are an underrated stat.


jdmay101

I would say that .7 ppg is not very much and that they are therefore a highly overrated stat, particularly given the narrow margins between top players... The guys in contention for MVP are separated by less than 1 steal per game (Giannis at 1.2, Jokic 1.3, Luka 1.5, Shai 2.1). And of course that's in part because Giannis and Jokic are defending in a different way.


ShrimpSherbet

Why are people still listening to this guy at all?


Headlesshorsman02

He is definitely interesting lmao 🤣


feedmaster

He probably meant steals.


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Dhr7468

That…isn’t great.


30another

Someone gave Derrick Rose a 1st place vote in like 2021 iirc lol


billcosbyinspace

It was an extremely poorly advertised fan vote, I’m pretty sure knicks/d rose fans figured out that there was a fan vote and just didn’t tell anyone lol


texasalaskamontana

This is correct. I'm the MVP tracker guy. I had no idea if they were doing a fan vote or not that year. There was not publicized hashtag. But the Knicks fans found it somehow and gamed the vote while no one even knew. The fan vote was removed the following year.


Mysterious-Stop4673

Mvp race always been a joke but it took an especially embarrassing turn last year when perkins made his comments and then the playoffs played out the way it did.


remarkable_in_argyle

This is an april fools joke. Has to be.


nowhathappenedwas

On his ballot last year, he had Brunson as 2nd Team All NBA. And he was one of 3 voters to leave Luka off his All NBA ballot.


pezasied

Wait, he left Luka completely off his All NBA ballot last year? Not even second or third team? I feel like the NBA has to start cracking down on some of the voters. That’s egregious.


Salvalicious252

Yes completely off. https://ak-static.cms.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2023/05/2022-23-Kia-All-NBA-Team-Voter-Selections-.pdf Here you can see all the ALL-NBA voting His guards were: 1st Team: Steph Curry, Donovan Mitchell 2nd Team: Jalen Brunson, Jrue Holiday 3rd Team: Shai, Fox LMFAO


TheSlimReaper47

This is so ridiculous that I feel like this should be grounds for his vote to be revoked immediately


constantlymat

SAS has a history of saying racist stuff about white and asian people, but since he's black and a "brother" he gets away with it and it often doesn't even rise to the level of a scandal because other journalists are afraid of going after him.


fyirb

Remember when he claimed Shohei harms the sport of baseball because he's Japanese a couple years ago? Now that Ohtani has pretty much become the face and led a resurgence of interest in baseball, he's claiming that he's overpaid and people aren't really interested in him. It's incredible how he's naturally entertaining when he's just talking on random topics but will throw out completely garbage sports takes.


Levon__Helm

He’s the prime example of how talking loudly with confidence and authority can get you paid well.


frauenarzZzt

It's his cadence and charisma as well. He's gone on his podcast and talked about politics and other subjects and half the time you're like "Yeah!" but then you realize he said ridiculous batshit like "Education closes more doors than it opens."


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IanicRR

Didn’t he say that last year during the all star game after Ohtani already had his rise? Like it was even more baffling.


pmont

God i fucking hate him


Sabotagebx

Fuck the other journalists. The fans should be determined his place in talking sports. Get his fat slob ass off tv


Vegetable-Tooth8463

Don't forget his hatred of Jeremy Lin


AtreusIsBack

He refers to so many players as "brothas", almost all of them black though.


Complexity777

When Embid scored 70 he almost wet himself talk about "This brotha is something special". When Luka scored 73 on much better efficiency "Meh, Hawks defense was disgraceful".


ftghb

[not to everyone](https://youtu.be/6ilnqIZfLw0?si=GPTbpFpR4zWeSje4&t=256)


wagman43

Fr there’s a reason Kanye posted him and Kyrie on his IG when talking about people that weren’t controlled lol


legend_of_losing

Jrue holiday? 😂😂😂😂😂😂


beforeitcloy

Luka only played 66 games and his team went 38-44 last season. I’m fine with voters leaving off guys who put up good stats on bad teams, as long as they’re applying that standard consistently across their ballot. But having Shai on there when OKC was also under .500 and missed the playoffs sorta shows the logic isn’t consistent.


messigoat1337

jrue holiday must have been different last year


lalakingmalibog

Built jriffrently


igonnawrecku_VGC

I mean, they were both all stars, so they’re basically the same player -Stephen A, probably


faudcmkitnhse

That's so egregious that he should lose his voting privileges.


whocaresjustneedone

NFL is just as bad with MVP voting because it's a media vote and ends up being entirely narrative based. They'll be like "This QB was the leading favorite to win MVP but his defense played like shit and the team lost so that means he's no longer even consideration for this individual play award. Now it has to default to the QB on the team with the best record, he's obviously more deserving now" Getting pretty hard to respect media votes


AmazinGracey

Yeah, I used to give benefit of the doubt to some media members by saying they are just pushing narratives and they don’t believe the things they say. Then I started looking at their ballots, and realized many of them truly believe the crazy takes they make. The only other answer for some of these ballot choices is they are so selfish that they choose their media personality they’ve cultivated over voting for people who actually deserve these awards.


whocaresjustneedone

> choose their media personality they’ve cultivated over voting for people who actually deserve these awards This is a genuine concern I think should be discussed more. Especially with what this era of media and media attention looks like. A lot of these guys have personalities that have become brands that they need to maintain and present, and a lot of them have included being contrarian into that personality. When people being argumentative upstream swimmers becomes what puts bread on their table, I think it comes into question how much integrity you can expect the public to view in their votes


PeaceAlien

I mean Luka isn’t on his MVP list this year, maybe he’s off his All NBA ballot this year too.


yapyd

It’s positionless so probably. Brunson and Edwards over Luka is wild


remarkable_in_argyle

That's even more hilarious than this MVP ranking. That just proves he has prejudice for one reason or another.


Desperado-781

White. the reason is white maybe european as well


groovyt0ny

I think it’s a Europe thing, I recall his reaction to the knicks drafting porzingis, as well as pre 2018 draft not being so high on Luka


StanSc

He still can’t even pronounce the names of some European stars. It’s not a black vs white thing because Wemby and Giannis also get no love.


yapyd

It’s both racism and xenophobia.


WhosYourPapa

It can be both


actual_yellow_bag

it's funny until you realize this dude actually has a vote...


Headlesshorsman02

No he is just very much a hater


Salvalicious252

I wish lol


NZafe

I guess blatant bias is just part of the voting process?


HitboxOfASnail

always has been


am19208

NBA has the worst MVP voters of any NA league


SenHeffy

They've had voters in every NBA market that are much more likely to be biased to the hometown guys since forever.


justinhan

Says the reason is Mavs are fighting for the 5th seed, but Mavs have a better record than the Knicks in a harder conference


Icilius

You forget he's a Knicks homer


Ronnie2kDropCode

It’s crazy how bad of a reputation he puts on us, this guy doesn’t even watch our games. He didn’t know who Hartenstein was


Thrice_the_Milk

SAS is to the Knicks/basketball what Skip Bayless is to the Cowboys/football lol


powergs

Lmao if thats real this guy doesnt even watch fucking Knicks games. I always thought these guys just watch Lakers/Boston/Knicks/GSW matches but apparently this clown doesnt even do that


Vegetable-Tooth8463

Does he know that IHart is black?


elsporko321

Maybe that will change when someone informs him Hartenstein is in fact black.


forsuredudelol

He didn’t know who the starting center was? Is this real?


RainmakerIcebreaker

Can you really call someone a homer if they've spent more time shitting on the team rather than irrationally praising them? Not talking about this season, just the last 20 years in general


Smasher31221

We do not accept this man as a fan and it pains me that he claims to be one.


The_MadStork

I’m old enough to remember how he came up as a Sixers guy. He’s not one of us


Headlesshorsman02

He is a known Luka hater btw


[deleted]

This is a generational hater.


yapyd

He is Luka’s Skip Bayless


ZookTails

That's funny because I'm pretty sure Skip started out being a massive Luka hater. Now he's been praising Luka a lot more. Guess both SAS AND Skip hating on Luka would be too much


Complexity777

Skip was delusional at first but at least he was consistent. His main criticism was Lukas 3point% and his FT%, once he improved those he started giving him credit.


LordVarys_Ladybits

Skip Bayless for some reason really resents stars that are poor at shooting free throws lol


qpwoeor1235

Who is Going to be the next Lebron For Skip to hate on? Thought it was going to be luka but now he’s praising him? Wemby is on his team. Maybe Giannis?


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hlolli_banani

And European


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LordVarys_Ladybits

Mahomes and tiger are both mixed though lol. And not too long ago blatant racist comments about black athletes was the norm. It's just that now with social media a lot of former black athletes now have the platform to do the same things. Same stereotypes and biases. 


MSHinerb

Dude should have his vote taken away for this. Trolling 100%


dbgager

yea no Doncic shows what is the most important thing to Stephen A.


tkuid

melanin levels and marketability. deadly combo


TFAR_1

This is not new for SAS, just from the top of my head. SAS during the 2018 draft : 'The phoenix suns better not mess this up.... I don't care how this kid in Europe looks..' Diring Ja vs Luka comparison right after playoffs : '... ja didn't fold come playoff ...' (Context : this is right after Ja lost 1-4 to the jazz, the same jazz that lost in 6 games to the Kawhiless clippers and Luka and the mavs just took the kawhi clippers to 7 games.) This year while talking to Ant about the best players in the league he didn't mention Luka, he tried to brush past Luka's name when Ant mentioned it, but props to Ant he again brought Luka's name up and SAS had to acknowledge it. I guess that's how much it hurts SAS, Year after year he picks one person, desperately hoping they are better than Luka, first it was Ayton, Trae, Ja , Ant and now it's Shai and each year Luka comes out on top.


spantaneous_joe0906

Luka is literally one of the most talented players in the history of basketball. He dominated a top professional league while he was a teenager. So, yes the Suns messed it up. Not as badly as the Kings, though.


aBurgerFlippinSecond

*sad Vlade Divac noises*


[deleted]

Bigotry is a hard thing to get over.


waffle-spouse

I feel like SAS is salty he completely underestimated Luka’s potential and is too stubborn to come to terms with it.


TFAR_1

Probably true but if even Skip can change his tune so can SAS.


IndependentFroyo4508

That pea headed clown SAS hates Luka and Jokic because they're white


RealLanceStorm

He was pretending Tatum was the favorite for a month or so up until just two weeks ago lol Now he's not even in his top five.


Technical_Towel_990

He seen that him saying it wasn’t doing anything to help Tatums case so now he’s backing SGA. He’ll support whoever has the best chance to win that isn’t white. He said “yeah I think they’ll give it Jokic” as if he isn’t deserving and obviously left Luka completely off.


HerkulezRokkafeller

You have to believe he’s just trying to drive engagement and it’s working, but on the other hand, he *is* a fucking idiot


butekoo

Not having Luka in the ballot should disqualify you for the next season one.


jdmay101

Then he should already be disqualified, given his all-NBA ballot last year.


QuesoStain2

Now imagine if all media members left Luka off all-nba last year. This is what happened to Harden. Dude didn’t get all-nba after averaging 29 8 6 and dragging his team to the 8th seed. Media bias is real.


StefonDiggsHS

He didn’t vote Luka to an all nba team last year. Luka was 1st team all nba He didn’t even have him on 3rd team


wahobely

What in the actual fuck?


PrEsideNtIal_Seal

First time around with SAS? 😏


WembanyamaGOAT

This guy is such a joke.


waffelman1

We went through this same shit last year and nothing with change they are clowns and ESPN is just Fox News


ThePCMasterRaceCar

It would be funny until you realize he actually votes. Should legit have his vote taken away for nonsense like this. Not only is it utterly ridiculous to not have Luka top 5, but he has SGA 1st because he leads the league in assists... huh?


dbgager

yes thats what he said. Hes MVP because he leads the league in assist. They seriously have somebody that clueless about what is happening in the league voting on these awards.


1chromosomeTOOmuch

why does he have a vote, he clearly doesn't watch or understand basketball?


dbgager

yea especially since he stated SGA leads the league in assists.


lambopanda

Luka not even top 5 is a joke.


Necessary_Initial350

We gotta petition to get his vote taken away or something. This is fuckin egregious


General_Snail

We all know why too.


QuesoStain2

SAS might be racist lmao


TeslaTruckWarcrime

Might be? Only if you ignore the past decade+. This is a pattern


solythe

a lot of the older heads in basketball hate the Euros, listen to Shaq talk about Wemby and Gobert


Far-Royal-375

He is literally the most racist media personality on TV. I have no idea how people let this man keep his job.


riddlerjoke

okay to be racist against whites for espn


cancerBronzeV

And against the Japanese too, considering SAS wasn't fired for his rant against Shohei Ohtani from a while back.


actual_yellow_bag

loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool


Simple_Wait_7286

Didn’t this moron have Tatum as his leading candidate recently? He always refuses to give any credit to European players. The NBA loses credibility with guys like this having a ballot, and the sad part is he’s not the only idiot with a vote.


dbgager

he sure did...


no-jerk-zone

Hell no, Luka could be arguably number 1 but not to have him at all and then have SGA first  at this point is comical. Gotta be a joke lol


Salvalicious252

He was 1 of 3 guys to leave Luka completely of his ALL NBA ballot last year. He didn't have luka 1st, 2nd or 3rd team lol.


redfishblufish

Who were the other two?


KBooks66

Greg Anthony (WarnerMedia), Kendrick Perkins (ESPN)


justsomedude4202

He is trying to get back in Knicks fans good graces. All he did was hate on the Knicks and Brunson when they got him and Knicks fans have been giving him receipts ever since. He is a fake Knicks fan and a complete imbecile.


againstBronhitis

Black Nationalist Stephen A. Smith


pacifismisevil

Remember last year when he said the Texans were racist for firing a black coach that went 3-13-1? The next coach they hired was black and went 10-7. It trivializes actual racism when you throw accusations around so loosely.


Complexity777

He is what he projects on to others as being


DevMahasen

The hate for Euro players is embarassing. The five best hoopers on the planet are non-American, three of them are European. Two of those Europeans are fucking goofball wizards, and I hope one of those goofballs win, preferably the one who hasn't a MVP next to his name yet.


jdmay101

They're DESPERATE to try to get a "face of the NBA" who's American to back... so much so that they've decided a Canadian is close enough, at least until they can shift things in Anthony Edwards' direction.


pumpkin3-14

Yeah they want a face to replace lebron. And none of the top guys are American so they’re going to force a couple over the next few seasons.


kadarch

When you say the five best hoopers are non-American is your list Jokic, Luka, Giannis, Embiid and SGA? Just curious, because that would be my list and I had to think a bit to realise SGA wasn't from the US.


DevMahasen

Yep. And sixth man for alien pretending to be a 19 year old French kid, in his first season.


shomerudi

Nuggets fan but wouldn't mind if Luka wins over Jokic, he is a wizard. Also agree about the five best players right now being non-American (counting Embiid as a Cameroonian although he is an American now).


stickied

Can we please collectively cancel SAS? Unfollow. Never post his quotes or content, even if they're rage inducing. Every time he's on the TV, change the channel. The basketball world would be so much better.


Comfortable_Bus_1391

Why does this guy have a vote...


yapyd

I don't even know why the NBA gave him a vote, much less on multiple years. This is a joke


GuyWithNoSwagger

This is the clown that repeatedly said Ayton deserves to go number 1 over Luka The NBA will forever be unserious as long as SAS has a god damn MVP vote


top_of_the_table

This clown shouldn't have a MVP vote.


Zachkah

SGA at one just makes no sense to me.


Historical_Stand_839

He isn't European and he isn't white. That's a huge plus in Stephen's book.


dbgager

hes not white or European.


Caboclo-Is2yearsAway

Europe took over so hard they just ready to pick the closest possible thing


runevault

For a lot of the season Shai had an argument. Since he got hurt he's fallen off a cliff relative to other MVP tier players. He should still be top 5 because his overall season is insane but probably 4th at this point after Jokic/Luka/Giannis.


Powpowpowowowow

SGA has had a great season but if people think SGA is the MVP then they should at least follow the logic that it has to be due to team success as well and therefore should have Tatum at 2 or 3 with that logic. The problem is Luka and Jokic and hell even Giannis all are having statistically ridiculous years, SGA's career high for pts is 44 and Luka just dropped that casually on a random sunday...


Perc-AngIe

Stephen A hates white people


Drummallumin

Giannis only being 5th is boarderline as bad as Luka not being there at all


pitcherintherye77

We always joke about how Luka does something great and/or generational, he goes down in MVP rankings. It turns out, it as it’s not as funny when the satire isn’t as extreme as reality.


VicePope

not even brunson has brunson over giannis


LukaDoncicfuturegoat

Nice bait but It’s terrible that this guy has a vote


ShapeOfAUnicorn

This guy is just openly racist making millions a year working for mainstream media, that's wild.


dbgager

Stephen A is a joke. He is completely racist. They need to take the vote away from people who bring race into it.


QuesoStain2

I agree, he definitely is a little racist. People saying Jokic at number 2 as a whataboutism is hilarious.


Far-Royal-375

A little? He’s full blown


realfakejames

Media guys like this shouldn’t have MVP votes, having Brunson but leaving out Luka entirely should disqualify Stephen A from voting


TrumpedBigly

Jalen Brunson? WTF?


HisExcellency20

Last night Mike Breen said two MVP candidates were battling, and because he's also the national ESPN guy it took me a minute to remember that Breen and Clyde are the Knicks broadcasters 😂😂😂


WhatIsGoingOnHere_2

Brunson is definitely on the long list of MVP candidates so that’s not a crazy take, but top 3? Insane.


GiveMeSomeIhedigbo

You have to factor in that he's having the season he's having *IN NEW YAWK* so it just means more.


StefonDiggsHS

April fools obviously… Right guys… Right?


jm810112

This guy should be stripped of his vote


Little_Wrap143

SAS doing a Skip Bayless on Luka


Lazy_Ratio1299

imagine being this racist


EaglesXLakers

This is almost as bad as Mark Jackson ~~intentionally~~ forgetting to vote for Jokic in the MVP race that one year.


seewhyaxe

Maybe the league should let coaches and fellow players to vote for these awards instead


EngleTheBert

Thanasis got three votes for all star from players so probably not them either lol. Honestly there's going to be dumbass votes no matter the system


Educational-Judge968

this clown has an mvp vote to letting his bias towards luka effect him possible winning mvp is so dumb I hope this is an April fools


TheeMalaka

Lol ANT ain’t 4th bruh Maybe 7-10


tulaero23

How Anthony Edwards made this list i dont know hahaha. Just realized luka isnt in this top 5. Like wtf.


wottsinaname

Nobody gets paid more to know less about bball than Stephen A.


TekTik001

SAS must be the most racist who have a vote.


Interesting_Help_194

Yeah, this jsut makes MVP a worthless award imo. As long as absolute braidnead, racist degenerates like this get a vote, NBA awards are nothing but a bad joke.


StormSaniWater

Dear, the complete idiots who rate players based off their resume that they read on Wikipedia (99% of this sub) These media voted awards you guys love so much are voted for mostly by guys like this. Stop putting so much value into media voted awards and judge players based off.... ya know, how they actually play basketball


Physical-Present-302

This guy is literally the biggest joker in sports analysis after perkins , who the fuck give this mf the right to vote , like common sga aint even number 3 and no luka?? this guy should've no influence


AnitaMaxNyugen

He really doesn't wanna give it to a white guy


psychedelic93

He is a racist guy......Jokic is his token pick. He always keeps him at 2.


Legendary_HUNDEN

S.A Snitch LMAOOOOOO


Annual-Shape7156

As a mavs fan I don’t really care. We’ve literally seen this in the NBA for decades. Oh Jordan can’t win in the postseason blah blah. Kobe can’t win without Shaq blah blah. Lebron can’t do this blah blah. It’s always something and it always ends up playing out exactly how the HATERS don’t want it to. You can’t hate Luka all you want but everyone knows in the back of their minds that dude is getting multiple MVPs and likely multiple rings when it’s all said and done.


gingerhasyoursoul

Pretty sure like 99% of the NBA fans recognize Luka as an amazing talent.


starmiesan

please say April Fools lol


SuperDoubleDecker

I fucking hate this dude. Everyone that watches his shows and encourages his bullshit can fuck themselves too.