Sources: Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander repeats as NBA MVP


OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has joined the exclusive club of NBA legends who have won back-to-back MVP awards, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Sunday.

The official announcement will be made by the NBA later Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET on Prime Video.

Gilgeous-Alexander, the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder’s superstar, became only the fifth active player to be named the MVP in consecutive seasons. The others are the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic, Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry and LeBron James, who accomplished the feat twice, once with the Cleveland Cavaliers and again with the Miami Heat.

Every retired player to win consecutive MVPs has been inducted into the Hall of Fame. That list includes Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.

The other finalists this season were Jokic and the San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama, whom Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will face in the Western Conference finals that begin with Monday’s Game 1 in Oklahoma City.

Gilgeous-Alexander, 27, ranked second in the league in scoring with 31.1 points per game while shooting a career-best 55.3% from the floor. He also averaged a career-high 6.6 assists per game for the 64-18 Thunder, who had the NBA’s best record for the second consecutive season.

Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning Finals MVP, also won the league’s Clutch Player of the Year award this season. He led the league with 175 points in the clutch, as defined by games within five points in the final five minutes of regulation or overtime. He also led the league with 16 go-ahead clutch field goals and in clutch plus-minus (plus-93).

This is the fourth straight season that Gilgeous-Alexander finished in the top five in MVP voting. He finished fifth in 2022-23 and second in 2023-24 before winning the last two seasons.

In that span, Gilgeous-Alexander became the first player since Jordan to average at least 30 points per game in four consecutive seasons.



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