Hamilton's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins NBA MVP award over Nikola Jokic
It is the true sporting genius who can impose their will on a game, on a season, in the same fashion all the time and continue to succeed at it.
Nba
50 shades of Shai: How Gilgeous-Alexander is reaching new scoring heights in his best NBA season
In one five-week span, the Thunder superstar had four games of 50 or more points, one of the most blistering stretches of NBA scoring in recent years.
Nba
50 shades of Shai: How Gilgeous-Alexander is reaching new scoring heights in his best NBA season
In one five-week span, the Thunder superstar had four games of 50 or more points, one of the most blistering stretches of NBA scoring in recent years.
A perfect example is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Hamilton-raised, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard who was announced Wednesday as this season's most valuable player in the NBA.
Everyone — opponents, teammates, fans — knows he wants to slither his way to the elbow where the paint meets the free-throw line to knock down 12- to 15-foot jump shots with metronomic consistency.
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Those same observers know that he can snake his way through a maze of large defenders, initiate contact driving to the basket, take a hit, make a basket and saunter to the free-throw line and make a foul shot.
It is his brilliance and why he was judged the best player in the NBA, becoming the second Canadian to win the annual award.
The Thunder point guard beat out finalists Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo in voting by 100 media representatives who regular cover the league.
Gilgeous-Alexander got 71 first-place votes, Jokic got the other 29 of the 100. Antetokounmpo received 88 third-place votes.
Full disclosure: My five-man ballot, in order, from which the three finalists were culled was Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic, Antetokounmpo, Boston's Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell of Cleveland.
Gilgeous-Alexander, finishing his seventh season, is now eligible for 'super max' contract extensions that will put him in the salary stratosphere. He could sign a four-year extension worth $293 million (U.S.) this summer or wait to be eligible for a five-year, $380-million deal after the 2025-26 season.
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'You try so hard throughout the season to not think about it and just worry about playing basketball and getting better and trying to win games but as a competitor and as a kid dreaming about the game, it's always in the back of your mind and I'm very thankful to be at this side of, I guess, the ballot,' Gilgeous-Alexander said in a TNT interview, sitting in front of his teammates at the Thunder practice facility.
'But none of this is possible without the guys behind me. The amount of games we won (68) and the fashion that we won the games is so impressive and it's mainly the reason why I got this award.'
The 26-year-old Gilgeous-Alexander has grown into one of the era's best players through a meticulous work ethic, daily dedication to honing his skills and a personality that won't allow him to put himself before his team.
He is confident, of course, but never seeks the spotlight that shines so brightly on him.
'He also wants to be one of the guys,' Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said earlier this month. 'He just wants to operate like another member of the team. You see him walk around the building, he doesn't walk around the building any differently than anybody else.
'He wants to blend into the organization, blend into the team the same way everybody else does. And I just think that balance is very unique.'
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Unique, too, are his skills, which blossomed this season like never before. He led the NBA in scoring, averaging 32.7 points per game and shooting 51.9 per cent from the field, 37.5 per cent from three-point range and 89.8 per cent from the free-throw line on an NBA-best 8.8 foul shots per game. He was part of the NBA's best defensive team as well and averaged 1.7 steals per game.
There are critics who denigrate Gilgeous-Alexander's skills because they see him as someone who hunts fouls, embellishes contact and lives at the free-throw line. It's lost on them, it seems, that Gilgeous-Alexander plays the same style, game after game, and the best defenders in the league can't find a way to consistently stop him. Maybe opponents and fans should find a solution to his skills rather than complain about them.
'I always marvel at his ability to get himself back to zero after every game,' Daigneault told reporters earlier this spring. 'Usually, he's doing it after a great game. That's his secret sauce.
'When he fails, he doesn't point fingers. He doesn't pout. He's not angry. He just gets himself ready to play again.'
In many ways, Gilgeous-Alexander replicates the character of Steve Nash, the only other Canadian to be named the NBA's MVP.
Both are selfless and more worried about team success than personal accolades even though both are and were near maniacal about preparation and setting standards for their teammates to match.
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'He's an absolute master of his craft, and that comes from hard work,' Nash said on a podcast earlier this month. 'That comes from really intentional, purposeful work … A big admiration for him.
'Not just how he's gotten there but how he handles himself … A guy that the league should be putting (out as its face) everywhere.'
It is not as if Gilgeous-Alexander won out easily over his main rival. Jokic, the MVP in 2021, 2022 and 2024, had a truly incredible regular season, averaging 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game for the Nuggets, who lost a seven-game, second-round playoff series to Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder.
Jokic seems to toy with the game, bending it to his whim and immeasurable skills every time he's on the court.
Gilgeous-Alexander's election continues an incredible run for him. He was an MVP finalist for the award three years ago and finished runner-up to Jokic in 2023-24. Gilgeous-Alexander was also named to the first-team, all-NBA team in two consecutive seasons and is certain to be get the same honour this season.
The result a year ago drove him.
'To be honest with you, I used it as motivation,' Gilgeous-Alexander said in the television interview. 'Last year, all it meant was that more people thought I shouldn't win than I should win, and this year I wanted to change the narrative and have it flipped. I think I did good job of that.'
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At home, he led Canada to a historic bronze medal at the 2023 FIBA World Cup and led the 3-1 Canadian team to the quarterfinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Gilgeous-Alexander was also awarded the Northern Star Award as Canada's athlete of the year in 2023 and has already committed to play for Canada through the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
'It's amazing playing in front of people that are from where I'm from, grew up the way I grew up, seeing the same things I've seen,' said Gilgeous-Alexander, who was born in Toronto and raised in Hamilton. 'It's like a little connection. Obviously … we share a common bond. It's cool.
'I'm proud to be Canadian, to play in front of Canadians, the special feeling whether I know them or not.'
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