Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been announced as the 2024-2025 NBA MVP, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
The announcement was made less than 24 hours after the Oklahoma City Thunder’s dominant 114–88 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
SGA is this season’s NBA MVPSGA dropped 31 points and dished out nine assists in the contest, marking his fourth consecutive 30-point performance in the playoffs, and his eighth in 12 games.
The mercurial guard averaged 32.7 points (1st in the NBA) in the regular season, as well as 5.0 rebounds and 6.4 rebounds. SGA fended off three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and two-time winner Giannis Antetokounmpo to scoop his first award.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who often gets ridiculed for foul-baiting or being a ‘free-throw merchant‘, is a major reason why the Thunder finished as the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed (68-14) and are three wins away from their first Finals appearance since 2012.
The three-time All-Star also has the most total points this season (2,484) and the best +/- rating (a stat that measures a player’s impact on the game by calculating the change in the score [plus or minus] while each player is on the court) of any player in the league (+1020).
The cool-as-a-cucumber Canadian has been on an upwards trajectory ever since he landed in Oklahoma City.
But it’s not like Gilgeous-Alexander was a transcendent star right out of the gate.
Many forget he was initially drafted by the Charlotte Hornets (11th overall) in the 2018 NBA Draft, the same class as Luka Doncic and behind players like Marvin Bagley III, Trae Young, Mo Bamba, Wendall Carter Jr, Collin Sexton, and Kevin Knox II.
SGA’s time in North Carolina was short lived, as he was immediately traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, for the pick after him (which ended up being Miles Bridges) and two future second-round picks.
The Thunder superstar is virtually unguardable and can score at willGetty Big things were expected of George and Leonard but the experiment failed to take offGettyShai enjoyed a solid rookie season in La La Land before being part of a blockbuster trade package for Paul George in 2019.
The now infamous deal — which saw PG13 move to LA, and Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari and five first-round picks plus two swaps go to Oklahoma City — shook both the NBA and the Clippers which the former is yet to recover from.
On the same night as that bombshell deal, the Clippers signed Kawhi Leonard in free agency to pair with George in the hopes of making the Clippers a championship contender.
Fast forward to the 2024-25 season, and SGA is one of the best players on one of the best teams while George is now with the lowly Philadelphia 76ers and Kawhi Leonard can’t make a conference finals.
“I had a great year here when I was here. Their front office made a trade that they thought was best for their team. Same with the Thunder,” Gilgeous-Alexander said while reflecting on the trade years later.
“Then the last five years I’ve tried to focus on my development and the team’s development. I’ve tried to be the best basketball player I can be for the Oklahoma City Thunder. And I’d say it worked out in my favor.”
Hindsight’s 20/20, but with its benefit many have labeled the trade the ‘worst in NBA history.’
The Thunder have assembled an exciting young roster with SGA the jewel in the crownGetty The Thunder leader has become a big star on and off the courtOKC got younger and better and still have a bunch of picks they’re yet to cash in on.
Oklahoma City owns Los Angeles’ first-round pick until 2026, and have already had success with some of those picks so far, adding forward Jalen Williams with the No. 12 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
They have one of the youngest, most exciting cores in The Association — spearheaded by SGA — and have already proved they can hang at the top of the loaded Western Conference after finishing as the No. 1 seed last season before crashing out of the Western Conference semis at the hands of Dallas.
Despite the setback, the bottom line is the bottom line – OKC aren’t going anywhere and they’re positioned to be a threat for years to come.
The same can’t be said for the Clippers.
The George-Leonard axis ultimately failed, with just one Western Conference Finals appearance to show for the trade.
They played 142 games together in their first four seasons, including playoffs, with a 96-46 record. George left for the Sixers this offseason and Kawhi has struggled with injuries throughout his Clippers tenure.
The Clippers may try to justify the trade since adding James Harden, but at 35, ‘The Beard’ is no longer the scoring phenom he once was, and the notion of him leading a team to a title at this stage of his career seems fanciful at best.
The Clippers have flipped the trade into Harden but it’s unlikely to be enough to win them a titleGettySGA is right to say the trade worked out in his favor.
In 2023 and 2024 he was named an All-Star and All-NBA First Team members.
He was named an All-Star for the third time this season.
Last season, he finished the season’s MVP race in second place behind eventual winner Nikola Jokic, although many felt SGA deserved it given the Thunder won 57 games (the best record in the West) and entered the playoffs as the first seed for the first time since 2013.
After a disappointing run with Team Canada at the 2024 Olympics, Gilgeous-Alexander returned to The Association a man on a mission.
SGA’s mother also happened to compete at the same Olympics as Michael Jordan.
His inside finishing, ability to create space, perimeter threat, and transition game make him a largely unguardable threat likened to some of the game’s greats.
SGA has been compared to a laundry lit of Hall of Famers, including Clyde Drexler, Dwayne Wade, Tracy McGrady, and Kobe Bryant.
His stats last season (points, assists, steals, 2PT%, and 3PT%), for example, were all better than Kobe’s during his 2008 MVP season.
Shai has been compared to the late, great Kobe but there are some things he does even betterGetty Shai can now become the NBA’s first $80m starGettyBut in many ways, Shai is too unique to compare like for like with anyone from NBA history.
He doesn’t have the raw athleticism of a Wade or Drexler, but his rare combo of length and handles, together with a slithery-ness and inherent crafty nature around the basket, make him an anomaly of a athlete.
It’s a rare kind of skill-set that could see him become the NBA’s first $80 million man.
The bona fide superstar is eligible to sign a supermax extension in the 2025 offseason, locking him in through the 2030-31 season.
The cap growth expected every season thanks to the NBA’s multi-billion annual media rights deal could see Shai’s estimated four-year extension worth roughly $294.3 million, according to Forbes.
That includes $81 million in the 2030-31 season, when Shai will be 32, which would make him the first $80m single-season earner in NBA history.
That would bring SGA’s career NBA earnings to nearly half a billion dollars — an eye-popping figure but one his current performances are certainly befitting of, especially if he becomes an NBA champion.
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