Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has earned his first NBA Most Valuable Player award, leading the team to a league-high 68 wins and breaking an NBA record for point differential. The 26-year-old surpassed Nikola Jokic in last year’s MVP voting, despite Jokic having a remarkable season with 29.6 points per game.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 32.7 points per game on 51.9% shooting from the floor, while also contributing to Oklahoma City’s top-ranked defense by accumulating 208 “stocks” (steals and blocks). He joins an exclusive club by leading the league in scoring for a team that won 60 or more games.
The win is Gilgeous-Alexander’s third straight season averaging at least 30 points while shooting better than 50% from the floor, alongside elite players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Giannis Antetokounmpo. He becomes the third player in franchise history to win an MVP, following Kevin Durant (2014) and Russell Westbrook (2017).
The NBA will officially announce the honor on Wednesday night, with Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder having already defeated Jokic’s Denver Nuggets in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals. A supermax extension is now within reach for Gilgeous-Alexander, who had qualified to sign a four-year, $294 million deal this summer.
Source: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45256670/sources-thunder-shai-gilgeous-alexander-wins-nba-mvp