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As Week 9 concludes in the NBA season, the competition for the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award got a few interesting twists. From 50-point performances to a few DNPs, everything affects the players in the rankings whether they go up or down. Team success has also been a factor in how the MVP rankings are being made.
For the past years, we saw three international players win the NBA MVP award: Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and reigning awardee Joel Embiid. Two more international players have strong chances of winning the MVP award and they are Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
As we get to Week 10 in the NBA season, we take a review on which players are leading the charge in the MVP race after Week 9.
NBA Most Valuable Player Power Rankings:
5) Giannis Antetokounmpo
In the four games that the 'Greek Freak' had, he won three of them but lost their Christmas game. However, an 11-point game against the San Antonio Spurs made him go down in this list.
4) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
It has been just a consistent high-performance week for SGA as he won two games against the Memphis Grizzlies and LA Clippers but lost to LeBron James and the LA Lakers on December 23. Still, a solid performance for the Canadian guard and still one of the best in the NBA right now.
3) Luka Doncic
Even with one DNP against the Houston Rockets, a triple-double performance and a recent 50-point game by Luka Doncic made him shoot up in the MVP race. In those matches, the Dallas Mavericks won back-to-back, showing how valuable the Slovenian is to the success of his team.
2) Nikola Jokic
After having an 8-point game against the Dallas Mavericks, Nikola Jokic bounced back with four straight double-doubles, two of which were nearing a triple-double. Just another day in the office for the Serbian center as the Nuggets are now on a five-game winning streak.
1) Joel Embiid
Even with a DNP on Christmas Day, Joel Embiid was able to put up a 51-point game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, giving them a tough loss. Truly an MVP performance and it overshadowed the 40-point game he had a game before against the Chicago Bulls.
When active, the Sixers are just hard to beat with Embiid en route to his second consecutive MVP plum if this high-level performance lasts until the end of the season.
