Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander named NBA MVP, becoming 2nd Canadian to win the award

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 year.

Gilgeous-Alexander was announced Wednesday as the NBA's most valuable player, his first time winning the award. It's now seven straight years that a player born outside the U.S. won MVP, extending the longest such streak in league history.

And when it happened, Gilgeous-Alexander said a life of moments — getting cut, traded, overlooked, celebrating, the wins, the good times — all flooded into his mind.

"I don't think there's enough emphasis on how much off the court influences on the court," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "And once I became better off the court my career started to skyrocket. It's no coincidence."

The 26-year-old from Hamilton becomes the second Canadian to be so honoured after Steve Nash did it in 2005 and 2006.

"He set the foundation," Gilgeous-Alexander said of Nash. "He was the first Canadian basketball player I knew of. And without seeing guys go to the NBA from Canada, it wouldn't have been as much of a dream as it was for us as kids growing up. So, to be in a conversation with a guy like that and what he has meant to not only basketball but to the country of Canada, it's special."

Nash was someone Gilgeous-Alexander identified in his MVP acceptance speech Wednesday night as one of his basketball inspirations.

"It means the world," Nash, the 2005 and 2006 MVP, said Thursday in a video conference with a small number of reporters. "I don't need it. And at the same time, there's no better feeling than watching these guys thrive and them saying you had an impact on them. That makes it all worthwhile and special. And I don't know if there could be very few compliments higher than that."

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Rowan Barrett, general manager of Canada's national men's team, believes Gilgeous-Alexander's accolade can help inspire future talents to achieve new heights.

"I would expect that it will continue to inspire our youth as well as our athletes that are already in the pros," Barrett said.

"I think it can inspire them to believe that they can play at the top levels of this game, that it is possible to come out of a smaller centre like Hamilton and be able to star on one of the biggest stages on Earth."

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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 — 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.

"This is a very special moment for me," Nash said. "I genuinely get super excited to see his success. He's really probably my favourite player to watch and let's hope he continues on this trajectory and continues to rack up seasons like this and represent himself and his country and his team the way he has been. He's phenomenal."

Gilgeous-Alexander is the first guard to win MVP since James Harden in 2018.

"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."

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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 centre 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.

"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, who averaged 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game, was third. He started this run of international players winning MVP; Antetokounmpo, of Greek and Nigerian descent, 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.

'I wanted to change the narrative'

Now, it's Gilgeous-Alexander — a son of Ontario, where hockey reigns — carrying the MVP flag. He was fifth in the voting two years ago, second behind Jokic last year, and used being so close to the award as fuel this season.

Boston's Jayson Tatum was fourth, Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell was fifth and the Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James was sixth — the 20th time in his 22-year career that he got some MVP votes.

Detroit's Cade Cunningham and Minnesota's Anthony Edwards tied for seventh, Golden State's Stephen Curry was ninth and three players — the Los Angeles Clippers' Harden, New York's Jalen Brunson and Cleveland's Evan Mobley — tied for 10th.

Barrett said Gilgeous-Alexander's MVP award will have an immediate impact on Canada's men's teams.

"When he's in the fold, guys are thinking like, 'Oh man, we're going to do it. We're going to win. I've just got to do my part,"' said Barrett, noting Gilgeous-Alexander is one of a core group of players committed to representing Canada internationally. "When an athlete of that magnitude decides to represent their country and sacrifice their time to do so, when he's already carrying an NBA franchise, but his country is that important to him that in the summer, when normally these guys would take their time and go be free and do all the things they want to do, he's in Asia, travelling [with the Canadian team].

"He's going to France [for the 2024 Paris Olympics] doing all these things, going to these countries. I think it sends a message to the other players. 'He can do it, what's my reason for not doing it? I think I should do it too."'

Portland Trail Blazers shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe, who is from London, Ont., thinks Gilgeous-Alexander's success in the 2024-25 season is great for the sport in Canada.

"He's another dude from Canada, growing up in Canada, he's doing his thing, while also all the other Canadians are doing their things," said Sharpe during the regular season. "I think it's mostly encouraging the younger generation in Canada that's trying to take basketball to the next level.

"I think it encourages all the guys and girls, especially the younger ones, to be great and chase their dreams."

The MVP award, like most other NBA honours, 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 Atkinson, 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 won the Twyman-Stokes teammate of the year award
• Warriors teammate Draymond Green won the hustle award
• Oklahoma City's Sam Presti won executive of the year
• Boston's Jrue Holiday won the sportsmanship award for the second time in his career as well as the league's social justice award.

The award came at a price for Gilgeous-Alexander, who is in line for an extension that will easily top $300 million US and could even see him make about $1 million per regular-season game in 2030-31 and 2031-32.

He promised teammates watches if he won the MVP; those guys have those watches now, and they deserve all that and more, he said.

"This is nothing compared to what they've been to me," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "I would rather have the MVP over a Rolex every day of the week and without them, I wouldn't have the MVP."