Souhan: As Timberwolves wait, we wonder: Do they want Nikola Jokic or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?

In a way, privately, Timberwolves players today are probably holding their own NBA MVP vote.

Would they rather face reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, whom they defeated in last year’s second round?

Or the guy who may take this year’s trophy, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?

By closing out their series against Golden State on Wednesday, the Timberwolves earned the right to face a great player in the Western Conference finals.

In five playoff series over the past two seasons, the Wolves have taken down Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, Jokic and Jamal Murray, Luka Doncic and LeBron James and Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green.

Depending on the result of Game 7 between Oklahoma City and Denver on Sunday, the Wolves will face either Jokic and Murray again, or Gilgeous-Alexander and Minnesota native Chet Holmgren.

Sound daunting?

It shouldn’t.

The Timberwolves might have the easiest path to winning an NBA championship of any of the remaining teams, and they may be four victories from potentially facing former employees Tom Thibodeau and Karl-Anthony Towns in Madison Square Garden in the Finals.

All they need to do is beat the last MVP or, perhaps, the next.

So which should they prefer?

The Nuggets look exhausted, and yet they have been able to extend No. 1 seed Oklahoma City to seven games in the Western Conference semifinals.

Oklahoma City is deeper and presumably fresher, but the Thunder have not looked in this series like a championship team, and they, unlike the Nuggets, have not advanced to a conference finals with their superstar, much less won a title.

The Nuggets are more familiar to the Wolves, and thus may be easier to prepare for. They also fired coach Mike Malone and replaced him with former Wolves assistant David Adelman, who has made a few strategic tweaks and has used his bench players more extensively.

“He’s definitely done some things that are different, some things around the margin that I think they’ve really benefited from,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “But fundamentally, the way they play stylistically, you know where the threats are.”

The Wolves have played 12 playoff games against the Nuggets the previous two seasons. The Wolves have never played the Thunder franchise in the playoffs since it relocated from Seattle.

The Wolves went 4-0 against Denver this season. The Wolves went 2-2 against Oklahoma City.

Wolves point guard Mike Conley didn’t express a preferred opponent but acknowledged the Nuggets and Wolves have become acutely aware of one another.

“This is about as close to a rivalry as you can get,” he said. “You play a team that many times, and we had different results in both series we’ve played them.”

With a smile, Conley said, “We’re tired of seeing them. We don’t necessarily want to see them, but we’ll be ready for whatever we get.”

A week ago, I thought Denver was the better matchup for the Wolves, and the Nuggets may still be. The Wolves have figured out the best way to play Jokic — by forcing him to take contested two-pointers instead of allowing him to rip your defense apart with a combination of three-pointers and passes to open three-point shooters.

But Oklahoma City now looks like a favorable matchup for the Wolves. Gilgeous-Alexander is a wonderful all-around player, but the Wolves’ best defenders should match up with him well.

My conclusions:

The Wolves should beat either team.

But then that’s what most Minnesotans thought about their matchup with Dallas last year, and what we saw in the Game 1 loss to begin last year’s Western Conference finals altered both perception and reality.