Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has won the NBA’s 2024-25 MVP award, according to ESPN. Gilgeous-Alexander is now the seventh straight MVP winner to be born outside of the United States, joining Nikola Jokić (2024, 2022, 2021), Joel Embiid (2023) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (2020, 2019). He is the first Thunder player to win the award since Russell Westbrook did so in 2016, and with Kevin Durant in 2014, three Thunder players have been named MVP.
Gilgeous-Alexander is also the first Kentucky Wildcats basketball product to win MVP.
The 26-year-old won the award with one of the best guard seasons in NBA history. He led the NBA with 32.7 points per game. The only other guards this century to score that much were James Harden, Kobe Bryant, Luka Dončić and Allen Iverson. He was remarkably efficient in doing so, making 51.9% of his field goals, 37.5% of his 3s and 89.8% of his free throws while contributing 6.4 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game.
What really solidified his case, though, was his team’s performance. The Thunder finished the season with the second-best net rating in NBA history (+12.7) and the fifth-best record (68-14) in league history. Oklahoma City’s dominant defense led them to that historic success, and while Gilgeous-Alexander does most of his work on offense, his ability to generate turnovers and hold his own in most perimeter matchups made him a valuable asset on the other end of the floor as well.
🏀 Most PPG on 60-win team in NBA history
| Season | Player | PPG | Won NBA Title? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971–72 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 34.8 | No |
| 2024–25 | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 32.7 | ??? |
| 1970–71 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 31.7 | Yes |
| 1990–91 | Michael Jordan | 31.5 | Yes |
Still, competition for the award was fierce. Jokić, a three-time winner, had arguably the best statistical season of his career. He became the first center in NBA history to average a triple-double, and only the third player overall to do so following Westbrook and Oscar Robertson. For the season as a whole, he ranked third in points per game, third in rebounds, second in assists and sixth in steals. All the while, he shot meaningfully better than Gilgeous-Alexander from both the field (57.6%) and 3-point range (41.7%).
The race between Jokić and Gilgeous-Alexander turned into a philosophical debate: should the MVP award go to the clear best player on the best team, or should it go to the player widely considered the best in the entire sport? Jokić held a slim but meaningful statistical advantage, but his team won 18 fewer games than Gilgeous-Alexander’s.
While it did not affect the voting, which was conducted as soon as the regular season ended, the MVP battle played out on the floor in the postseason. Jokić and the Nuggets pushed Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder to the brink, but in the end, Oklahoma City pulled out the victory in seven games. Jokić hit higher highs throughout the series, but Gilgeous-Alexander improved steadily as the series progressed and was ultimately able to put the Nuggets away in close fourth quarters in Games 4 and 5, which ultimately swung the series.
In the end, the voters decided that Gilgeous-Alexander deserved the nod. In a season in which there were two worthy MVP winners, the voters leaned on the one leading one of the greatest regular-season teams in NBA history. With a regular-season MVP award now under his belt, Gilgeous-Alexander will try to add the far more meaningful Bill Russell Finals MVP award in June. The Thunder still have plenty of work to do before that’s on the table, but given the season that Gilgeous-Alexander is having, he has a real chance to become the first player since 2013 LeBron James to get both in a single season.
Prior to the past seven seasons, only three international players had won the award (Steve Nash twice, plus Hakeem Olajuwon and Dirk Nowitzki).
🏀 Last 7 NBA MVP winners
| Year | Player | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 🇨🇦 |
| 2024 | Nikola Jokic | 🇷🇸 |
| 2023 | Joel Embiid | 🇨🇲 |
| 2022 | Nikola Jokic | 🇷🇸 |
| 2021 | Nikola Jokic | 🇷🇸 |
| 2020 | Giannis Antetokounmpo | 🇬🇷 |
| 2019 | Giannis Antetokounmpo | 🇬🇷 |
Gilgeous-Alexander was drafted with the No. 11 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets, who traded his rights to the Los Angeles Clippers. His only season in Los Angeles saw him average 10.8 points and 3.3 assists per game before he was shipped off to Oklahoma City in a blockbuster trade that also included Danilo Gallinari, five first-round picks and four first-round pick swaps in exchange for Paul George, a trade which assured them the services of Kawhi Leonard.
