The case for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was simple. He’s the best player on an Oklahoma City Thunder team that had the best record this season and set a league mark for margin of victory. If that wasn’t enough, he also won the scoring title.
That’s an MVP season.
Gilgeous-Alexander was announced Wednesday as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, his first time winning the award. It’s now seven consecutive years that a player born outside the U.S. won MVP, extending the longest such streak in league history.
“You try so hard throughout the season to like not think about it and just worry about playing basketball and getting better and trying to win games,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on TNT, when the results were unveiled. “But as a competitor and as a kid dreaming about the game, it’s always in the back of your mind.”
It ultimately was a two-person race. Gilgeous-Alexander got 71 first-place votes and 29 second-place votes; Denver’s Nikola Jokic got the other 29 first-place votes and the other 71 second-place votes.
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo was third, getting 88 of the 100 possible third-place votes.
Gilgeous-Alexander — the No. 11 pick in the 2018 draft by the Clippers — averaged 32.7 points, 6.4 assists and five rebounds per game this season, leading the Thunder to a 68-14 record. The Thunder outscored teams by 12.9 points per game, the biggest margin in league history.
He becomes the second Canadian to win MVP; Steve Nash won it twice.
“His value is his confidence,” Oklahoma City’s Kenrich Williams said of Gilgeous-Alexander, his Thunder teammate for the last five seasons. “His confidence that he has in himself and the confidence that he instills in every one of his teammates, including the coaches.”
Read more: Granderson: The Lakers should draft a big man who’s also a grown-up
Jokic — a winner of three of the last four MVP awards — was second, despite a season for the ages. He averaged 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game, the first center to average a triple-double and the first player since all those stats were tracked to finish in the NBA’s top three in all three of those categories.
It was the sixth instance of a player finishing a season averaging a triple-double — at least 10 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds per game. Russell Westbrook did it four times and Oscar Robertson once, but only one of those triple-double seasons led to an MVP win.
“He’s a special player,” Jokic said of Gilgeous-Alexander earlier this week when the Thunder eliminated the Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals. “His shot selection, his shot capability … he’s always there. He’s a special player.”
Antetokounmpo averaged 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game. He started this run of international players winning MVP. Of Greek and Nigerian descent, he won in 2019 and 2020.
Jokic, a Serbian, won in 2021, 2022 and 2024. And Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, who was born in Cameroon but since became a U.S. citizen, won the award in 2023.
Now, it’s Gilgeous-Alexander — a son of Ontario, where hockey reigns — carrying the MVP flag after finishing second last year.
“There are voters every year. That will never change,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And last year, all it meant was that more people thought I shouldn’t have won than should have won. This year I wanted to change the narrative and have it flipped. I think I did a good job of that.”
The MVP award, like most other NBA honors, was voted on by a global panel of 100 writers and broadcasters who cover the league and cast ballots shortly before the start of the playoffs.
The other awards that were part of that voting process and have already had their results unveiled: Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinso, coach of the year; Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels, most improved player; San Antonio’s Stephon Castle, rookie of the year, Cleveland’s Evan Mobley, defensive player of the year; New York’s Jalen Brunson, clutch player of the year; Boston’s Payton Pritchard, sixth man of the year.
Other awards announced by the league since the end of the regular season: Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Twyman-Stokes teammate of the year, Warriors teammate Draymond Green, hustle award; Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti, executive of the year; Boston’s Jrue Holiday, sportsmanship award for the second time in his career as well as social justice award.
Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Read the full article here