Has Shai Gilgeous-Alexander taken the mantle from Steve Nash as the greatest Canadian NBA player ever?

Yahoo

4 hours ago

The 2024-25 NBA season was owned by a Canadian, as Hamilton, Ont.'s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Oklahoma City Thunder to its first title with a Game 7 win over the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals.
SGA, who's put himself in the conversation of being considered the best ball player Canada has ever produced, capped off a historic individual campaign by being named the Finals' most valuable player. That comes after earning NBA MVP honours and claiming the scoring title during the regular season, as his accolades vaulted him to the top of the basketball world and into an extremely exclusive group.
With the all-time run, the 26-year-old became just the fourth player in league history to win Most Valuable Player, a scoring title, Finals MVP and a championship ring in the same campaign. He joins Hall-of-Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal as the only players to accomplish the feat.
SGA also becomes the first Canadian to ever win Finals MVP, as he adds to a legacy that may already him as the greatest Canadian basketball player of all-time, surpassing Steve Nash.
The Hamilton product capped the regular season with 64 games of 30 points or more. Legends Wilt Chamberlain, Rick Barry, Elgin Baylor, Bob McAdoo, James Harden, Abdul-Jabbar and Jordan are the only other players to score 30-plus points that many times in a single campaign. SGA is also one of only two players in the NBA to average 30 or more points per game in each of the last three seasons, with Giannis Antetokounmpo being the only other.
Including the playoffs, Gilgeous-Alexander put up 3,172 total points this season, which is the ninth-most in NBA history. He was also an All-Star and made first-team All-NBA for the third straight season in what has been one of the best three-year runs the league has every season.
Fellow Canadian NBA legend, Nash, showered SGA with praise following Sunday's Game 7:
'You can only imagine and get excited about all the kids around the world, but in particular Canadians that will be affected so positively, whether they're basketball players or not, by the way he carries himself, by the way he executes and commits to his profession,' said Nash, via TSN.
'It's remarkable and he's an amazing example for everybody out there, not just kids."
Despite his young age of just 26, the argument can certainly be made that Gilgeous-Alexander has swiftly emerged as not only the face of Canadian basketball today, but as the greatest player the country has ever produced — potentially already surpassing the legendary Nash.
While Nash's place in NBA history is secure as a two-time MVP and Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, Nash's legacy was built on being the engine driving high-powered offences throughout his career, not on all-around dominance like SGA has displayed to this point. What's also missing from Nash's resume after an 18-year career is an NBA championship, a key component in these GOAT conversations, no matter how much we like it or not.
Statistically, Nash was a revolutionary passer, leading the league in assists five times while boasting a career average of 8.5 assists per game. His 10,335 career assists also has him ranked fifth all-time in that category.
Gilgeous-Alexander's game, however, is far more complete. SGA combines elite scoring, averaging north of 24 points-per-game over his career so far — and dwarfing Nash's 14.3 PPG career average — to go along with efficient playmaking (over 5 assists per game), and elite defence as he ranks among the league leaders in steals and deflections over the past several seasons.
Gilgeous-Alexander, unlike Nash, is regarded as a solid two-way player and a top-notch defender — earning All-Defensive Team votes from 2023 to 2025 and placing seventh in voting for the 2023-24 Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Nash himself is a massive fan of Gilgeous-Alexander.
'[SGA is] a guy that the league should be putting everywhere. The Thunder should be everywhere… this is exactly what we want a basketball team to look like.'Steve Nash with high praise for SGA and OKC pic.twitter.com/x4SJQ87WOT
— 𝘿𝙐𝙁𝙁𝘼𝙇𝙊 (@Duffal0) May 1, 2025
Including his immaculate 2024-25 NBA season, SGA has averaged over 24 points per game for four consecutive years (and 30-plus in each of the past three seasons). That features an astounding 31.4 PPG in 2022–23 (finishing fourth in MVP voting), 30.1 PPG in 2023–24 (finishing second behind Nikola Jokić) and a whopping 32.7 PPG this past campaign where he won the scoring title. For contrast, Nash's single-season career-high is just 18.8 PPG, and he never won a Finals MVP or earned an NBA ring during his otherwise illustrious career.
When looking at shooting rates, the two are actually pretty comparable at this point in SGA's career.
Gilgeous-Alexander's field goal percentage currently sits at 50.1% through 462 career games, while Nash posted a 49.0 FG% over his career. Nash was a better three-point shooter at 42.8% compared to SGA's mark of 35.5%, and Nash's free-throw numbers al also slightly better at 90.4% to Gilgeous-Alexander's 86.2% career mark. The latter has a better player efficiency rating at 23.4 compared to Nash's 20.0 PER.
Nash, at this point in time, and with a lot more seasons and games under his belt, still holds the edge in individual, regular-season accolades over Gilgeous-Alexander. The former ended his career with eight All-Star nods, seven All-NBA selections, five assist titles, and those two aforementioned MVPs. Nash was also selected to the NBA 75th anniversary team and earned an induction into the Hall of Fame in 2018.
We won't know exactly where SGA stands in all-time basketball lore for another decade-plus when he calls it a career. But with so many accolades already under his belt, numbers much better than Nash across the boards aside from assists, and the leader of an upstart OKC team just entering its prime (like he himself is) its reasonable to expect that Gilgeous-Alexander will be unanimously considered the greatest basketball talent Canada ever produced when all is said and done, if he isn't leading that conversation already.
The debate is already happening online, too, with plenty of fans and pundits floating the comparison and wondering if SGA has already claimed the title of Canada's greatest player.
Is SGA the best Canadian basketball player of all time? I think he already surpasses Steve Nash.
— Arpan (@arpan_on_BC) June 23, 2025
Ric Bucher's top 10 NBA point guards of all-time, assuming SGA is named Finals MVP:1. Magic Johnson2. Steph Curry3. Oscar Robertson4. John Stockton5. Jason Kidd6. Isiah Thomas7. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander8. Bob Cousy9. Steve Nash10. Chris PaulThoughts? 🤔(via… pic.twitter.com/5mbhzuOTeI
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 19, 2025
Steve Nash won his first MVP at 30. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won his first MVP at 26 the same year he won a championship and finals MVP. It's only up from here for SGA. He IS the greatest Canadian basketball player ever.
— sidra 🇵🇸 (@KashmiriChai32) June 23, 2025
SGA the greatest Canadian player of all time btw.. tell Steve Nash to move out the way 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
— Dre (@DreDay93_) June 23, 2025
SGA >Chris PaulRuss 😢James HardenDameLuka Steve Nash Allen Iverson 👀
— Breiden Fehoko (@BreidenFehoko) June 23, 2025
No disrespect to Steve Nash. But you're debating with a wall now if you think Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn't the greatest Canadian. https://t.co/b1Z5pL8eTN
— Libaan Osman (@libaanstar1) June 23, 2025
Plenty, however, are still on Team Nash, with the conversation gaining steam throughout the playoffs.
SGA is incredible but don't think he takes the title of greatest Canadian baller quite yetSteve Nash was a BAD MANhttps://t.co/lw1ClhsesH
— keepfischin (@keepfischin) May 27, 2025
Nash has more MVP titles, more all NBA first teams, 8.5 assists over his career and played 18 years. I think it's too early to rank SGA before Nash. If SGA still plays at a decent level in 8 years, it might be a different story but I just find it weird to call it now when he's…
— Stats Man X (@StatsManX) June 20, 2025
One thing is for certain: there's no better representative of the Canadian game — and maybe the NBA as a whole — right now than SGA, regardless of where you have him ranked among all-time Canadian ballers at this point in his career.
His humility and selfless attitude was on full display just moments after the buzzer sounded on Sunday's Game 7 victory.
'A lot of hard work, a lot of hours in the gym,' SGA said of winning his first NBA title.
'This isn't just a win for me. This is a win for my family. This is a win for my friends. This is a win for everybody that was in my corner growing up. This is a win for the fans, the best fans in the world.'
His refreshing team-first approach is something to be lauded and appreciated.
'Focusing on just being the best version of myself for this basketball team, for whatever it takes, for however many games it is, however many possessions is needed, however many moments,' Gilgeous-Alexander added.
'Ultimately, I'm just trying to stay in the moment. I think that's what's gotten me here. That's what has helped me achieve the MVP award, achieve all the things I've achieved. It's helped this team win basketball games.'
Savour SGA while he's around, Canada. Players like this come around once in a generation.