Latest news with #KiaNBAMostValuablePlayerAward
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
NBA Finals berth puts Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Stephen Curry MVP company
The post NBA Finals berth puts Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Stephen Curry MVP company appeared first on ClutchPoints. It has been quite a ride in the 2024-25 NBA season so far for Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Advertisement But he's not done yet. After being named the 2025 NBA Most Valuable Player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added another major award to his resume, as he won the 2025 Western Conference Finals MVP, as he led the Thunder to a series win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. With the league MVP in the bag and an NBA Finals berth with the Thunder, the former Kentucky Wildcats star will be joining future Basketball Hall of Famer and Golden State Warriors superstar point guard Stephen Curry in an exclusive club. From the NBA Communications X account: 'Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be the first player to win the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award and play in the NBA Finals presented by @YouTubeTV in the same season since Golden State's Stephen Curry in 2015-16.' Advertisement Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will officially complete that feat once he steps on the court in the 2025 NBA Finals. For now, he and the Thunder will still have to wait to see which team they will be locking horns with in the last stage of the playoffs, with the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks still battling it out in the Eastern Conference finals. That series could be over as soon as this Thursday night, though, as Indiana could set the date with the Thunder in the NBA Finals with a win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden in Game 5. With his ability to take over games on offense, Gilgeous-Alexander has become such a dangerous weapon for the Thunder on the court that none of Oklahoma City's previous three playoff opponents managed to solve. He dominated the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round, thwarted the Denver Nuggets in the second round and humbled the Timberwolves in the conference finals. Gilgeous-Alexander had a spectacular series versus the Timberwolves. After lighting up Minnesota for 34 points on 14-for-25 shooting in the Thunder's series-clinching 124-94 win on Wednesday, Gilgeous-Alexander concluded the Western Conference finals with averages of 31.4 points, 8.2 assists and 5.2 rebounds through five games.
Newsweek
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Newsweek
Lakers' LeBron James Makes Shocking NBA MVP Voting History
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James made NBA MVP voting history this season. No, the 21-time All-Star power forward did not win a fifth MVP award, but he did earn one fourth-place vote and 13 fifth-place votes from the league's pool of 100 global media members. A global media panel of 100 voters selected the winner of the 2024-25 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award. The complete voting results ⬇️ — NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 21, 2025 All-NBA Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — who's currently just three wins away from making his first NBA Finals — earned his first MVP honor, besting three-time league MVP center Nikola Jokic, who nabbed the second-most votes. Gilgeous-Alexander now becomes the third player for the Thunder franchise to be named league MVP, behind Kevin Durant in 2013-14 and Russell Westbrook in 2016-17. He earned 71 first-place votes and 29 second-place votes. Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics defends LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers in the final shot of regulation play during the fourth quarter. The Lakers would lose this game. Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics defends LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers in the final shot of regulation play during the fourth quarter. The Lakers would lose this game. Photo byJokic, meanwhile, notched 29 first-place votes and 71 second-place votes. On a 68-win Thunder squad, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 32.7 points while slashing .519/.375/.898 shooting splits, 6.4 assists, and 5.0 rebounds a night. Read More: Thunder Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Wins First Ever MVP Award, Beats Out Nikola Jokic According to HoopsHype, this now makes the 40-year-old the oldest player in NBA history to ever earn MVP votes. As a 19-year-old rookie with the Cleveland Cavaliers during the team's lottery-bound 2003-04 season, James was also the youngest player to ever earn such accolades — that record still stands. James supplanted Hall of Fame former shooting guard/small forward Michael Jordan to become the oldest NBA player ever to earn some MVP votes. LeBron James has replaced Michael Jordan as the oldest player in NBA history to receive MVP votes. He's now both the youngest (at age 19) and oldest player (at age 40) ever to receive MVP votes. — HoopsHype (@hoopshype) May 21, 2025 At 39 years and two months old by the end of the 2001-02 NBA season, the 6-foot-6 North Carolina swingman finished 13th in MVP voting (James finished sixth this year) while averaging 22.9 points on 41.6 percent field goal shooting, 5.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.4 steals for a 37-45 Washington Wizards squad that missed the playoffs entirely. In fairness, the Wizards' lack of postseason success was due in large part to Jordan missing 13 games during a 16-game stretch in February and March (during which Washington went 4-9) with torn cartilage in his right knee. More Los Angeles Lakers News: Lakers' Bronny James Among NBA's Elite in One Unique Category James had a better year than Jordan by pretty much any metric. There's one caveat: although Jordan was the best player on his non-playoff Wizards club, James was the second-best player — first behind 10-time All-Star center Anthony Davis, and eventually behind five-time All-NBA guard Luka Doncic — on a 50-win Lakers squad that finished as the Western Conference's No. 3 seed. Across 70 healthy bouts, James averaged 24.4 points on .513/.376/.782 shooting splits, 8.2 assists, and 7.8 rebounds a night. Was he truly the sixth-best player this year? Perhaps not, but he was still one of the league's elite 15 or so standout stars — a remarkable achievement for a guy playing his NBA-record 22nd season. More Los Angeles Lakers News: Lakers Superstar Luka Doncic Reportedly Turning Page With New Conditioning Plan Lakers Likely Trade Package for Center Reportedly Revealed Michael Jordan's Longtime Agent David Falk Takes Subtle Shot at LeBron James For more Los Angeles Lakers and general NBA news, head over to Newsweek Sports.
Indian Express
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Who is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, man who beat Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo to NBA MVP title
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was voted as the NBA regular-season MVP on Wednesday night, beating former MVP-winning superstars like Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Gilgeous-Alexander winning the MVP title means that for the seven consecutive year, a player born outside the US — extending the longest such streak in league history — has now been awarded the title of the best player in the league in regular season. The NBA race for the MVP title came down to two players: Gilgeous-Alexander earned 71 first-place votes and 29 second-place votes while Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic got the other 29 first-place votes and the other 71 second-place votes. Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo was third, getting 88 of the 100 possible third-place votes. Gilgeous-Alexander got 913 points overall from a panel of 100 voters — The award is voted on by media members — while Jokic had 787 points. Boston's Jayson Tatum was fourth behind Antetokounmpo, and Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell finished fifth. A global media panel of 100 voters selected the winner of the 2024-25 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award. The complete voting results ⬇️ — NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 21, 2025 The ceremony was held at the ION facility where Thunder practice. He was surrounded by all of his teammates and his family. He will receive the trophy on the court before Game 2 of the Western Conference finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday. But before that ceremony in front of the world, he gave a tearful MVP award speech on Wednesday night where he thanked his wife, Hailey Summers, for her role in his career. 'Thank you so much,' he said as he looked at Summers from the podium. 'Thank you for everything you are — for me, for our son, Ares. You were the first person to show me what love really meant … what sacrifice really meant. And I can't wait to spend the rest of this journey called life with you. Thank you very much. I wouldn't be the man I am, I wouldn't be the player I am, I wouldn't be the father I am, without you. Thank you.' So who is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? This season, Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged 32.7 points (where he was the league leader), 6.4 assists and five rebounds per game. Thanks to him leading from the front, the Thunder accrued a 68-14 record in regular season. He also ended the regular season as the league leader in averages for free-throw attempts (7.9) and shot attempts (21.8). As noted by The Associated Press, thanks to him, Thunder outscored teams by 12.9 points per game this season, the biggest margin in league history. Oklahoma City had a franchise-record 68 victories and ended as the top seed in the Western Conference for the second consecutive season. Gilgeous-Alexander becomes the second Canadian to win MVP after Steve Nash, who claimed the honour twice. Gilgeous-Alexander was the No 11 pick in the 2018 NBA draft. He was picked up by the Los Angeles Clippers. In those early days, the 20-year-old used to travel to training games by Uber or with help from teammates who could drive because he just had a learner's permit. After that rookie season, he was traded — much to his own surprise — to Oklahoma City Thunder. His early seasons at the OKC franchise saw the team being in a rebuilding phase: they won just 46 games from 2020 to 2022.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
NBA Makes Massive Nikola Jokic Announcement During NBA Playoffs
The Denver Nuggets started off their chase for a championship on Saturday in Game 1 of their first round series against the Los Angeles Clippers. Saturday's game was a back and forth one between the two teams and it would need an extra period to decide a winner as the game went into overtime. Advertisement Denver was able to pull out the 112-110 victory in overtime, taking a 1-0 series lead over Los Angeles. The Nuggets will now prepare for Game 2 on Monday as they look to take a commanding lead in the series before traveling to Los Angeles for games three and four. While the Nuggets were not playing on Sunday, the NBA did make a massive announcement regarding their superstar center Nikola Jokic. The NBA announced that Jokic has been named as a finalist for the 2024-25 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award. Jokic is joined by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks as finalists for the MVP award. Advertisement Of course, Jokic is already a three-time MVP winner and with the historic season he was able to put together, he might be headed for his fourth MVP award. This season, the 30-year-old center 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, 10.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 57.6% from the field and 41.7% from three-point range. Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić controls the ball as Sacramento Kings guard Keon Ellis defends at Golden 1 Center on April 9, Szczepanski-Imagn Images It was truly a historic season for Jokic as he joined Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson as the only players in NBA history to average a triple-double throughout the entirety of a season. He also became the first player in league history to finish in the top three in points, rebounds, assists and steals per game. Advertisement Although Jokic put together a historic season, Shai is the favorite to win the MVP award but it all depends on the voters. Jokic was also nominated for the NBA Clutch Player of the Year award along with Jalen Brunson and Anthony Edwards. The NBA MVP award will be announced at some point over the next couple of weeks during the playoffs along with the other awards and the selections for the All-NBA, All-Defense and All-Rookie teams.
