Gilgeous-Alexander is not on the official injury report released Thursday evening, meaning he will be available for Friday's home game against the Denver Nuggets. The Thunder went 5-4 in the stretch missed by Gilgeous-Alexander, who suffered the injury during a Feb. 3 win over the Orlando Magic.
The NHL Awards races this season have been anything but predictable, given some of the chaotic variables. Florida Panthers star Aleksander Barkov won the past two Selke Trophies as the NHL's best defensive forward. He has yet to play a game this season after a preseason injury required knee surgery. Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck has won the past two Vezina Trophies as the NHL's top netminder, as well as the Hart Trophy as league MVP last season.
A big game for the New England Patriots will take place in Week 15 of the NFL season, one of the biggest in half a decade. The good news is the game is at home, and the Patriots have a favorite for the NFL's MVP award, Drake Maye at quarterback. The bad news is that they face the current MVP, Josh Allen, and his formidable Buffalo Bills.
Around Week 8, the MVP race starts to follow a predictable script: Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson (if the Ravens are rolling) will almost certainly feature. Between 2015 and 2019, the NFL had four first-time MVP winners Cam Newton, Matt Ryan, Mahomes and Jackson. But in the last five years, only Allen has been a first-time winner (Aaron Rodgers, Mahomes and Jackson were the other victors).
Just as baseball's postseason chase has entered the stretch run, those vying for individual honors are running out of time to make their cases. This is our fourth and final Awards Watch of the regular season, and with that in mind, we've changed up our usual format to narrow the focus of each race to the leading contenders in each category. What races are all but decided? Which ones remain very much up in the air? Let's dig in.
