Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been named the NBA Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season.
During Sunday’s televised announcement for the 2023-2024 season, the Oklahoma City guard easily defeated MVP candidates Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama.
Building on his MVP win, the 27-year-old Canadian star earned 939 points, boosted by 83 first-place votes from 100 journalists and broadcasters covering the NBA in North America.
Jokic finished second with 10 first-place votes, while Wembanyama finished third with five first-place votes.
SGA credits team-mates for another MVP year
Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the Thunder to their first NBA title last season, continued by redirecting praise to his teammates for helping him get into a position to win the game.
The Kentucky alumnus emphasized the length of the regular season, underscoring the importance of a capable group of team-mates who made it easy for him to perform at his full strength.
He noted that without his team-mates, the 64-win 2025-26 season would not have happened.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who averaged 31.1 points and 6.6 assists per game, also noted that he and his teammates had so much fun together throughout the season, despite the league’s businesslike operations.
His second MVP award placed him in an elite club of only 14 NBA players who have won back-to-back MVP honours.
Nuggets star Jokic was the last to achieve the feat in 2021 and 2022, while the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo also went back-to-back in 2019 and 2020.
Other players to have won consecutive MVPs include Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP also extends a streak of overseas players winning the honour. The last American to win NBA MVP was James Harden in 2018.
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SGA, Thunder face Wembanyama, Spurs in West Finals
Gilgeous-Alexander will lead Oklahoma City in the best-of-seven Western Conference Finals showdown against the Wembanyama-led Spurs.
The series begins Monday at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, and the Thunder aim to keep their unbeaten postseason streak intact with a Game 1 win over San Antonio.
Oklahoma City has swept past the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers in the first two rounds of the playoffs, and Gilgeous-Alexander believes the Spurs should not be taken lightly.
“Obviously a really good team – they’ve been right behind us all year, so we obviously don’t take them lightly in the slightest,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
The Thunder superstar will face a tough task as he goes up against Wembanyama and the Spurs’ guard combo of Stephon Castle, De’Aaron Fox, and Dylan Harper.
Oklahoma City will welcome back guard Jalen Williams, who missed the last two games of the first-round duel against the Suns and the entire Conference semifinal series against the Lakers due to a left hamstring injury.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault started Ajay Mitchell to fill the spot left by Williams and is expected to return to his usual role off the bench when the Santa Clara standout comes back to the starting lineup.
The Spurs had Oklahoma City’s number during the regular season, winning 4 of 5 matchups.
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