Shaq Goes On Jealousy-Filled Rant Complaining About Nikola Jokic Winning MVP

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Shaq doesn't believe that Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic should have been named NBA MVP this season. Instead, he would have liked to have seen Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander win the award. 

That's all well and good, he isn't the only one who shares that opinion, but the jealousy-filled rant he went on complaining about how the voting shaped out was nothing short of ridiculous. 

"I'm not happy with this one," O'Neal said on ‘NBA TNT Tip-Off.’ "Congratulations to Joker, you are the best big man in the league, but based on everybody's criteria, my criteria, stats, stat-stuffer, your guys' criteria, No. 1 seed, which team has the better record, I felt Shai [Gilgeous] Alexander deserved it."

Again, it's more than fair for Shaq to have that opinion, but then he brought himself losing out on MVPs during his career into the conversation, which has nothing to do with anything in this situation.

"I've been No. 2 a lot," Shaq continued. "I played my ass off, so the fact that he (Gilgeous-Alexander) has to start all over next year and try to win it again."

Feeling sorry for Gilgeous-Alexander for having to "start all over" again next season to win the MVP is just a bizarre statement from O'Neal. That's how this thing works. League MVPs are named each season, and every player in the NBA will have to rewrite their resumes next year to be awarded the MVP.

It's worth mentioning that Jokic received 79 first-place votes for MVP while Gilgeous-Alexander received the second most, with 15.

Shaq calling Gilgeous-Alexander a stat stuffer while comparing him to Jokic is also laughable - which Ernie Johnson rightfully called him out for - given that nobody puts up numbers quite like the Denver big man.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished the regular season averaging 30.1 points, 6.2 assists, and 5.5 rebounds. Jokic finished the campaign averaging 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 9.0 assists per contest.

O'Neal, who is paid to watch and talk about the NBA, may not have paid too close attention to the league standings throughout the year, either. His argument that the Thunder had the best record in the Western Conference isn't accurate given that they had the exact same record as the Nuggets at 57-25.

Oklahoma City won the tiebreaker to get a hold of the top see in the West, yes, but record-wise wise, the two teams were identical.

To Shaq's credit, he told Jokic to his face later on in the show that he didn't think he deserved league MVP honors.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.