Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander becomes 14th player to win consecutive NBA MVPs

He is the best player in the best team. And voters say he’s the best player in the league, too.

Again.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player on Sunday for the second year in a row. He became the 18th player to win at least two MVP awards and the 14th to win them back-to-back.

“Basketball is definitely a team sport,” Gilgeous-Alexander said Sunday night at a party at the Thunder practice facility, surrounded by teammates — all in new Burberry jackets, a gift from the now two-time MVP. “All the numbers, all the accolades, everything I do on the field, if we won 10 games, I wouldn’t be in this conversation. So, thank you guys so much. I love you guys.”

The win for Gilgeous-Alexander, who is Canadian, marks the eighth consecutive time the NBA MVP has been born outside the U.S. The run began with Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (born in Greece, of Nigerian descent) in 2019 and 2020, followed by Nikolaerbiaic’s 2020 and then Denveraic’s 2022, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid (born in Cameroon, but who then became a US citizen) in 2023 and Jokic again in 2024.

And in 2025 and 2026, SGA is the MVP. The coats were just one part of the massive amount of gifts Gilgeous-Alexander shared with his teammates on Sunday; there were personalized golf bags, gift baskets and very expensive watches – which he handed out to each of his teammates.

“Who he is has never changed,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I think he’s hit the edge in his game, in his leadership and in his outlook, just like anybody else coming of age.”

Jokic was second and San Antonio’s French center Victor Wembanyama was ranked third.

Gilgeous-Alexander received 83 of a possible 100 first-place votes. Jokic got 10 and Wembanyama got five. Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers was fourth in the voting and Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons was fifth.

Cunningham received two first-place votes – the first by a US-born player since 2021.

Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics was sixth, and Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers and Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers tied for seventh with one fifth-place vote each.

International players went 1-2-3 in the voting for the fifth straight season.

— Last season the order was Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic and Antetokounmpo.

— In 2024, it was Jokic, then Gilgeous-Alexander and Doncic (Slovenia) of Slovenia.

— In 2023, it was Embiid, then Jokic, then Antetokounmpo.

— In 2022, it was Jokic, then Embiid, then Antetokounmpo.

“So many NBA players don’t have opportunities,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Who knows where I’d be without him.”

Gilgeous-Alexander and Wembanyama will square off Monday night when the Thunder and Spurs open Game 1 of the Western Conference finals in Oklahoma City. NBA commissioner Adam Silver is expected at Monday’s game to officially present Gilgeous-Alexander with a trophy for the third time in 12 months — the MVP award last May, the NBA Finals MVP award last June and now this one.

Jokic not winning the award continues a strange trend: Those who average a triple-double, often thought of as the holy grail of the game’s accomplishments, almost never win MVP.

Jokic had the seventh occasion of a player finishing a season with a triple-double average – at least 10 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds per game – posting 27.7 points, a league-best 12.9 rebounds and a league-best 10.7 assists.

It wasn’t good enough for MVP. Russell Westbrook averaged a triple-double four times and won MVP just once in those years. Oscar Robertson averaged a triple-double in 1961-62; he didn’t win MVP that season. And now, Jokic has done it twice — with no MVP for him, though he’s won the award three other times.

Gilgeous-Alexander insists he doesn’t play for individual honors. He plays for team trophies.

“The way things are run in this organization and in this city, it breeds success,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s no coincidence.”

The MVP win is Gilgeous-Alexander’s second major individual award this season; he was also voted the league’s Clutch Player of the Year by a landslide — he received 96 of 100 first-place votes in that poll, honoring how great his performances tend to be in the final five minutes of close games.

Then again, he’s pretty good no matter what time he’s on the clock.

Gilgeous-Alexander was second in the league with 31.1 points per game, second only to Doncic and his 33.5 point average. He also extended his NBA record streak of regular season games with at least 20 points to 140 and counting; will continue in the next season.

He’s extremely boring – one of the few mid-range specialists in the game, someone who excels at drawing fouls, isn’t a look-at-me guy, and gives some of the most thoughtful answers of anyone in the league. Emotions are not worth his time; standing still is always his favorite move.

And he believes in the Thunder way, that the sum of the parts is the only real key to winning.

“Some of it is just luck,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “As an NBA player, you don’t have control over other grown men in this business, and I’m fortunate enough to be surrounded by great human beings, from the front office, the coaching staff, to the guys I play with on the court every night. We all want to see the next player win and do whatever it takes in the end to win. We have that common goal.” bigger than me.”