On Wednesday afternoon, OKC Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named the NBA’s 2024-25 MVP.
Shai, who led the Thunder to a Game 1 win in the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday night, was in a closely contested MVP race with Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, who the Thunder dominated in their Game 7 match-up on Sunday.
The award is a break though for Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished as the runner-up to Jokic last season, the latter who won his third MVP in four seasons.
Shai finished the regular season as the league’s scoring champion, averaging 32.7 ppg while shooting 51.9% from the floor. He also added in 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks per game, leading the Thunder to a league-high 68 wins. That puts him in the season category with the GOAT Michael Jordan.
The two are the only players in NBA history to average at least 30 points on 50% shooting, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1 block per game. Jordan did it twice (1987-88, 1990-91), winning the first two of his five MVPs in those seasons.
While Jokic had the best season of his career, averaging 29.6 ppg, 12.7 rpg, 10.2 apg and 1.8 steals per game, Shai’s role in the team’s historic season couldn’t be overlooked. This season, OKC broke the NBA record for point differential (+12.9 per game) and finished with 18 more wins than Denver
By becoming this season’s scoring champion, Shai joined an exclusive club that now has 10 members including Jordan. These players led the league in scoring on teams that won 60 or more games.
Shai, who averaged at least 30 points while shooting 50% or better for the third straight season, also became only the fifth player behind Wil Chamberlain, Kareen Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Giannis Antetokounmpo to have performed that feat in three straight seasons.
And they all won MVPs, so Shai has the chance to join that same club in another category in the next few years.
Shai is now the third OKC player to win league MVP behind Kevin Durant (2014) and Russell Westbrook (2017).
This, per ESPN, sets him up for a record-setting, supermax contract of four-years, $294 million, which would make it the largest highest annual value ($73.3 million) in NBA history.
