Canada's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is about to complete one of the greatest seasons in NBA history

Jesse Campigotto · CBC Sports

· Posted: Jun 19, 2025 5:04 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

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The Oklahoma City Thunder tin triumph the NBA title contiguous with a triumph implicit the Pacers successful Game 6 of the Finals successful Indiana.

This is apt to happen. With Pacers prima Tyrese Haliburton potentially sidelined due to a calf injury, the league-best Thunder are favoured by six points, implying they person astir a 2-in-3 accidental of hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy tonight. If they don't, they'll get different ace successful Game 7 backmost successful Oklahoma City, wherever they'll beryllium adjacent bigger favourites.

A Thunder title would presumably effect successful Canadian superstar defender Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being voted the Most Valuable Player of the Finals. The existent betting likelihood for this grant suggest the regular-season MVP's chances are higher than 85 per cent, and the lone different OKC subordinate with a existent changeable is Jalen Williams. He scored a series-high 40 points successful Game 5 but is averaging 25.8 successful the Finals compared to 32.4 for Gilgeous-Alexander, who's conscionable a shadiness disconnected his league-leading 32.7 from the regular season. 

This puts SGA connected the verge of completing not conscionable the champion play ever by a Canadian, but 1 of the top by immoderate subordinate successful NBA history. The 26-year-old from Hamilton, Ont., tin go lone the 4th antheral ever to pb the league successful scoring, seizure the regular-season MVP, triumph a title ringing and adhd the Finals MVP successful the aforesaid season. You whitethorn person heard of the others: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan.

WATCH | Canada's Gilgeous-Alexander becomes 2nd NBA MVP from Canada:

Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's all-time scoring person until LeBron James surpassed him 2 years ago, was the archetypal to bash it — successful 1971 with the Milwaukee Bucks, erstwhile helium was inactive known arsenic Lew Alcindor. Jordan, the top hoops subordinate ever (sorry, LeBron), accomplished it 4 times during his six championships with the Chicago Bulls (1991, '92, '96, '98). O'Neal, the incomparable large antheral who won 3 consecutive Finals MVPs with the Lakers, was the past feline to articulation the club, successful 2000 with L.A.

In each of those instances but for Jordan successful 1991, they besides led their squad to the league's champion grounds successful the regular season. Gilgeous-Alexander ticked that container by powering OKC to a 68-14 mark — 4 wins amended than immoderate different club. Plus, helium was voted a starter for the All-Star game, an All-NBA First Teamer and the MVP of the Western Conference final.

At archetypal blush, you mightiness deliberation the scoring-title/MVP/championship/Finals-MVP quadruple would beryllium highly correlated. After all, prima players successful pro hoops person a bigger effect connected their team's fortunes than successful immoderate different large sport. So shouldn't the squad with the champion and highest-scoring subordinate successful the league triumph the rubric much often than not?

WATCH | 4 Canadian players to ticker successful the NBA Finals:

The utmost exclusivity of the Jordan/Shaq/Kareem nine shows that it's overmuch harder than it looks. In fact, Gilgeous-Alexander is the archetypal regular-season MVP successful 9 years to adjacent scope the Finals, and he'd beryllium the archetypal successful a decennary to triumph the title. You person to spell backmost adjacent further, to O'Neal a 4th period ago, to find a regular-season scoring champion who went connected to triumph a ringing that aforesaid season. 

This speaks to the difficulty, successful the modern NBA, of playing astatine an MVP level passim a gruelling 82-game regular play and inactive having capable near successful the vessel to pb your squad done the two-month playoff gauntlet. It's astir apt not a coincidence that existent superstars Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic won their MVPs successful seasons wherever they did not marque it to the Finals, overmuch little triumph a ring.

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Given the rarefied aerial he's successful close now, it's benignant of puzzling that Gilgeous-Alexander isn't a bigger woody among hoops fans. Despite the information that helium scores successful bunches arsenic a defender (in general, the astir aesthetically pleasing position), immoderate impeach him of being a "free-throw merchant" who has mastered the acheronian creation of drafting fouls and gets galore of his points from the line. Other nitpickers accidental helium skirts the rules connected violative fouls, often utilizing his non-ball-handling limb to ward disconnected defenders erstwhile he's driving to the bucket.

But the overarching ailment from SGA critics seems to beryllium that they don't find him each that interesting, either arsenic a subordinate oregon a personality.

Feeling underwhelmed by the champion subordinate successful the satellite is not a caller improvement among hoops fans. Though they play antithetic positions, Gilgeous-Alexander has been likened to Tim Duncan, the businesslike, fundamentally dependable powerfulness guardant who won 5 championships, 3 Finals MVPs and 2 regular-season MVPs implicit 19 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs. Despite his undeniable greatness, Duncan ne'er connected with fans to the grade that flashier contemporaries similar Shaq, Kobe Bryant oregon adjacent the acold little palmy Allen Iverson did. There's an echo of that successful however today's fans look to similar the likes of Jokic, the Lakers' Luka Doncic and even, astatine the moment, the Pacers' Haliburton.

Nothing against those guys, but determination should beryllium country successful everyone's bosom for SGA. He scores. He passes. He defends. He hits large shots. And helium shows up to work: successful an property wherever each instrumentality complains astir load management, SGA played successful 76 of OKC's 82 games this season. That's much games than each different top-10 scorer but Minnesota's Anthony Edwards.

The happening to recognize astir SGA is that helium doesn't interest himself with playing TikTok basketball — follower number by damned. Instead, similar Duncan successful the pre-social-media days, he's laser-focused connected doing immoderate it takes to win.

"The mode I spot it," helium said the different day. "Winning is each that matters."

Now what's not to similar astir that?