Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Wins Second Consecutive NBA MVP

The Thunder guard became the 14th player to win back-to-back MVP awards.

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won his second MVP award. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won the 2025-26 MVP award, ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported on Sunday. This is his second consecutive win, making him the 14th NBA player in history to win back-to-back MVP awards. The last player to accomplish this feat was Nuggets center Nikola Jokić in 2021 and ‘22.

SGA became just the fifth guard to win back-to-back MVP awards, and he joins some pretty elite company: Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Steve Nash and Stephen Curry.

Gilgeous-Alexander’s average of 31.1 points per game finished second in the league during the regular season, ranking only behind Lakers’ Luka Dončić, who was seen as a fair option to win the MVP award for the first time in his career. Dončić, along with Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, appealed to the NBA to not enforce its 65-game rule for regular season awards. They won their case, but in the end, Dončić will have to wait to attempt to win his first MVP award.

The finalists ended up being between Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokić and Spurs center Victor Wembanyama.

The Toronto native was the first guard in NBA history to average 30 points and 55% shooting in a season. He didn’t score below 20 points in all 68 games he played in this season, joining only Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor in achieving this milestone. He scored 2,117 points this season, trailing only Dončić’s 2,143.

He could cap off his MVP season again with another NBA title as Oklahoma City will face San Antonio in the Western Conference Finals starting on Monday night.

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