Oklahoma City. — Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, undisputed leader of the Oklahoma City Thunder, was chosen as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the NBA for the first time in his career, sources confirmed to ESPN this Wednesday.
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The NBA will make the announcement official tonight, days after Gilgeous-Alexander led his team to a dominant victory in Game 7 against Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals.
At just 26 years old, Gilgeous-Alexander not only won the season’s scoring title, but was the centerpiece of a team that recorded 68 wins —the most in the league— and broke the historical record for average point differential per game (+12.9).
During the campaign, he averaged 32.7 points, 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 1.0 blocks, with an impressive 51.9% field goal percentage. Only Michael Jordan achieved similar figures in seasons where he was also awarded the MVP (1987-88 and 1990-91).
In addition, Shai became the third player in Thunder history to obtain this award, joining Kevin Durant (2014) and Russell Westbrook (2017).
Despite a brilliant season by Jokic (29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game), the overall impact of Gilgeous-Alexander —including on the defensive side, where he accumulated 208 steals + blocks, third in the NBA— tipped the scales in his favor.
His performance has generated great expectation for the future. Already qualified for an unprecedented supermax extension of 4 years and 294 million dollars, Shai could sign the contract with the highest annual value in NBA history (73.3 million per season).
