Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the 2025 NBA MVP
“I don't care to be scrutinized. I don't care to be praised.”
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, on kinda sorta becoming the face of the league
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been officially announced as the league's Most Valuable Player for the 20254-25 NBA season. He was quite simply the best player on the best team, leading the NBA in scoring for a top-5 Thunder offense while being a plus defender and turnover generator on OKC's historic defense. Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo finished second and third in the voting, respectively.
SGA is the third player to win the award while playing for the Thunder, following Kevin Durant (2014) and Russell Westbrook (2017). In addition to the hardware, Shai is poised to lead the Thunder–up 1-0 against the Wolves in the Western Conference Finals–back to the Finals, where those legends last brought the franchise in 2012.
Cray Allred
Shai arrived in 2019–the same summer Russell Westbrook departed–resetting the timeline after the Thunder 1.1 (KD & Russ) and 1.2 (Russ & company) failed to ever return to the championship round. He's been an incredible development success story in Oklahoma City, coming to the team in his second-year as a promising but limited player. In retrospect, he was the crown jewel of the Paul George blockbuster trade, a superstar acquisition that OKC would soon pair with draft selections gobbled up in the rebuild. He's grown into a unique, unstoppable scorer as the Thunder's young roster has taken shape around him.
Leading the Thunder to the most dominant season in franchise history and a conference finals berth has already placed the MVP near the top of OKC's stacked pyramid of greats. There's no doubt he's aiming higher than the Michael Jordan trophy as he hopes to bring the Larry O'Brien to Oklahoma City next.
