Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Bags Second Straight NBA MVP Award

The Oklahoma City Thunder have seen superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander bag his second straight NBA MVP award the NBA announced this evening.

May 22, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; NBA commissioner is Adam Silver presents Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) with the Michael Jordan Trophy for winning the most valuable player award for the 2024-25 season before game two of the western conference finals for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The Oklahoma City Thunder are taking on the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, which tips off on Monday, May 18, inside the Paycom Center. This is the Thunder's second straight trip to the Western Conference Finals, and just like last year's Conference Finals bout, the series starts with some major news.

OKC Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has won back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, joining Steve Nash as the only other Canadian to pull this off. He is the first player in Thunder history to win multiple NBA MVP honors. Russell Westbrook (2017) and Kevin Durant (2014) are the only other members in Oklahoma City franchise history to join Gilgeous-Alexander (2025, 2026) in this club.

Gilgeous-Alexander becomes the first guard since Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry (2015, 2016) to win back-to-back NBA MVP honors. The last player to win back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards was Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic (2021, 2022).

The Oklahoma City Thunder superstar powered the team to 64 wins this season, marking their second straight 60-plus win campaign, second straight year as the best record in basketball and third consecutive season as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Gilgeous-Alexander did that while being part of a team that suffered the third-most games lost due to injury this season.

Gilgeous-Alexander is the first guard to average 30-plus points on 55% shooting from the floor in an NBA season in league history. He joins the great Michael Jordan as the only other player to average 30 points, five assists and shoot 50% from the floor for four consecutive seasons in league history.

This award, being handed out tonight by the NBA, adds even more drama to the Western Conference Finals. Gilgeous-Alexander beats out the other two NBA finalists in Jokic and San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama. The Thunder will go head-to-head with the Spurs and Wembanyama head-to-head with Gilgeous-Alexander starting this week. An on-court presentation of the NBA MVP trophy could happen right in front of the NBA MVP award finalists prior to the tip-off of this highly anticipated Western Conference Finals matchup.

Gilgeous-Alexander continues to put his name in the history books as an all-time great player. The only other guards who have put together back-to-back NBA MVP campaigns are Lakers legend Magic Johnson, along with the aforementioned Jordan, Nash and Curry.

This season, the Oklahoma City Thunder superstar averaged 31.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.8 blocks per game while shooting 55% from the floor, 38% from the 3-point line and 88% from the charity stripe. On top of these two NBA MVP awards, Gilgeous-Alexander has already bagged a Western Conference Finals MVP, NBA Finals MVP, four All-Star nods, the 2026 Clutch Player of the Year honor, a scoring title and soon to be four All-NBA selections on top of his All-Rookie honor back in 2018-19.

Now, the OKC Thunder have a chance to be the first team since the 2018 Golden State Warriors to be back-to-back champions led by Gilgeous-Alexander if they can get past these daunting Spurs.