10/18/2026 02:15:00
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10/18 14:13 CDT OKC's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could join rare club of
back-to-back-to-back NBA MVPs this season
OKC's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could join rare club of back-to-back-to-back NBA
MVPs this season
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
Bill Russell. Wilt Chamberlain. Larry Bird.
That's the full list of those who managed to win three consecutive NBA Most
Valuable Player awards. Nobody has pulled off that feat in 40 years, and the
star power not on that list --- names like Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Magic
Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar --- speaks to how difficult it is to accomplish.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder has a chance to get there
this season, whether he wants to or not. His focus --- as it has been in past
years as well --- is on winning and on championships, not on anything of the
individual variety.
"I've just got to be the best player I can be for this basketball team, win as
many games as possible," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "That kind of recipe for me
in the past has kind of worked, and I've been fortunate to win two in a row. No
different for me going into this season."
He is the best player on the team that is essentially the co-favorite, along
with the San Antonio Spurs, to win the NBA championship. He's collected more
than 75% of the first-place MVP votes over the last two seasons, and his
scoring average of 32 points per game is tops in the NBA over that span.
He doesn't think he's been at his peak yet, either.
"I feel like I'm a better basketball player, more versatile as a basketball
player," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "In better shape, too."
Thunder general manager Sam Presti has been around Hall of Fame players. He
sees the traits in Gilgeous-Alexander, saying in his preseason news conference
last month that greats at that level have "something that separates them from
the others that makes them uniquely different."
"He has the baseline stuff of his work ethic, his discipline, his character,
things that you have to have to be a consistent elite performer in the NBA or
anywhere," Presti said. "But his emotional awareness and regulation is
superior, in my opinion. It's extraordinary. His view is layered. He doesn't
live in a pass-fail world, and I think that's part of what's allowed him to
come kind of from the back of the pack as a lightly recruited college player to
this ascent."
The game has changed, and Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the players who has
changed it.
International players have won the last eight MVP awards; if the annual polling
of the league's general managers proves accurate, that run will go to nine this
season --- since the Spurs' Victor Wembanyama is their preseason pick to emerge
as the trophy winner next spring.
And with Joel Embiid --- the No. 3 pick in 2014 and MVP in 2022-23 --- being
the exception, many of those eventual international-born MVPs weren't exactly
expected by many to reach that level when they entered the league. Giannis
Antetokounmpo, then of Milwaukee and now of Miami, was the 15th overall pick in
the 2013 draft; he won two MVPs in this international run. Denver's Nikola
Jokic was drafted No. 41 overall; he's a three-time MVP. Gilgeous-Alexander was
drafted 11th; he's now gone back-to-back.
"He's still going," Presti said. "He's got a lot more levels to go, and his
mindset, I think, is the No. 1 thing that drives all that."
Winning brings individual success as well, and Gilgeous-Alexander knows that.
But he often reminds people that things like MVP seasons come because so many
people --- not just the actual trophy winner --- did their part.
If the Thunder are contenders again, he'll likely be a top candidate. The best
player on the best teams tends to be right in the MVP mix. And if he wins it
again, it'll be costly: Gilgeous-Alexander has showered teammates with
thank-you gifts after his first two MVP seasons, including fancy watches,
Burberry coats and much more.
Leadership, to Gilgeous-Alexander, is far more important than trophies.
"It's something that I've been intentional with, but also just I think
naturally it's just grown because I've grown as a man," he said. "Becoming a
father has helped with that. You're an example for somebody every day and it's
a little bit different in the real world, but it's essentially the same thing.
You lead by example --- and it's hard to get people to follow you if you don't
do the right things and you don't walk the walk."
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