In the NBA, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York are viewed as epicenters of basketball, but in the last 15 years, Oklahoma City has been home to some of the best players in the league. This year, OKC joined the Celtics, Rockets, Lakers, and Sixers as the only teams to have 3 different MVPs in their franchise history.
In 2014, OKC’s Kevin Durant went home with the MVP averaging 32.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists, 3 years later, Russell Westbrook would take home MVP in the season following Kevin Durant’s shocking departure from the team. In his Westbrook’s season, he would break the all time record for the most triple doubles in a season. Along with the record, Westbrook averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists. Westbrook would also leave OKC in 2019, and the moves that were made to rebuild the franchise landed them their third MVP.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a much different path to MVP compared to Durant and Westbrook. Durant was the number two overall pick and Westbrook was the number four pick. Shai was not a top 5 pick, Shai was picked 11th in the 2018 draft, being chosen by the Charlotte Hornets, but immediately was traded for the next pick in the draft, sending Shai to the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers would be a playoff team that year with Shai looking like a positive asset for the future of that team. But his path would diverge again in the summer of 2019, where he would be part of the astonishing trade that would move Shai, Danilo Gallinari, 4 unprotected first round picks, 1 protected first round pick and 2 first round pick swaps to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Paul George.
During his time with the Thunder, Shai has developed into an All Star caliber player. Shai’s stats would balloon from 23.7 points to 32.7 points, his ascent as a player would coincide with his team, where they would go from 22 wins to a league best 68, this was enough to earn him the 2025 MVP.
In sports, every MVP announcement comes with a bit of controversy, the runner up for the award was the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic, who himself has won 3 MVPs already in his career, but had his best statistical season of his career. This decision sparked plenty of opinions about the choice, Bill Simmons, veteran sports writer and founder of the Ringer podcast network, said that Jokic had “the best offensive season since the era of Michael Jordan” while Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton told Yahoo Sports “in the era I grew up in, the best player on the best team wins MVP every time”
Both players had historic seasons and it’s hard to choose one, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the league in scoring with 32.7 points along with 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 1.0 blocks on 51.9% shooting. The only player ever to average at least 30 points on 50% shooting with 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1 block per game is Michael Jordan, who achieved this feat twice in his career, in 1987-1988 and 1990-1991.
Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets had 18 fewer wins than OKC, but Jokic became only the third player in NBA history to average a triple double for the whole season, averaging 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, 10.2 assists and 1.8 steals on 57.6% percent shooting.
Ultimately, the race for MVP was incredibly tight, with both players making history in different ways leading their team. The voters chose Shai but considering everything, who would have been your pick for MVP this year, Nikola Jokic, or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?
