Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins back-to-back NBA MVP awards
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the NBA's Most Valuable Player. Again.
The Oklahoma City Thunder guard won his second consecutive NBA MVP award on Sunday, May 17, holding off a historic run from San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama and another jaw-dropping season from Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.
Gilgeous-Alexander became the 14th back-to-back NBA MVP award winner in the league's history. The formal announcement was made on Prime Video on Sunday, one day before the Thunder are set to host the Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
“Hard work, obviously,” Gilgeous-Alexander said during the Amazon Prime broadcast when asked what it took to win his second consecutive MVP. “Not being satisfied. The guys in the (locker room) really having my back, night in and night out. It’s a long season full of ups and downs, so those guys just tying their boots up and going to war for me every night. I wouldn’t have won 64 games without them. So if it wasn’t for these guys, I wouldn’t have won this award.”
Gilgeous-Alexander earned 83 first-place votes and 939 total points from the panel of voters to run away with the award. Jokic finished second with 10 first-place votes and 634 total points, while Wembanyama had five first-place votes and 569 points.
Earlier Sunday, ESPN leaked the news of Gilgeous-Alexander winning the award.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.1 points per game, shot 55.3% from the field and led the Thunder to 64 wins and the No.1 seed in the West, even while a steady stream of players around him kept getting hurt. When Oklahoma City needed a basket, he got it. When it needed a stop, he was there to do that, too.
He joined Michael Jordan as the only guards to average 30+ points with a 50+ field-goal percentage in four consecutive seasons.
On March 12, Gilgeous-Alexander, 27, broke one of the most untouchable records in basketball history.
He surpassed Wilt Chamberlain's record for consecutive 20-point games, a streak that eventually reached 126 straight. Chamberlain set that mark in January 1963. Nobody had come close to reaching that record until Gilgeous-Alexander erased it that night with his 127th.
Gilgeous-Alexander put up 42 points on 15-of-18 shooting in Game 3 of the Thunder's first-round series against the Phoenix Suns. He closed out the Los Angeles Lakers in four games with his 26th 30-point playoff game in a Thunder uniform.
Gilgeous-Alexander is also the fourth player in NBA history to win MVP, Finals MVP and the scoring title in the same season. He joins Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. A native of Ontario, Canada, Gilgeous-Alexander is only the second Canadian to win the NBA MVP award, following Steve Nash.
Wembanyama gave him a real scare down the stretch. The 22-year-old Spurs center was otherworldly on defense all season and became the youngest defensive player of the year winner in NBA history. He was the first unanimous selection for that award.
Now, Wembanyama and Gilgeous-Alexander will battle it out on the court in the Western Conference finals.
Jokic, as usual, did things that seemed impossible for a human being. He led the league in rebounds, 12.9 per game, and assists, 10.7, averaging a triple-double for the second consecutive season.