For yet another year, the NBA MVP race was complete with deserving candidates who had put together ironclad cases.
Among those ironclad cases, the bodies of work from Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo, Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Denver's Nikola Jokic stood out above the rest. The three international superstars were unsurprisingly announced as the league's three MVP finalists, but suspense grew as it took nearly four weeks for a winner to be announced.
The long layoff between announcements was, in part, due to the perceived closeness of this year's race. While Antetokounmpo was viewed as a worthy candidate, he was a distant third behind last year's top two: Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic. SGA finished with 71 first-place votes, with Jokic garnering the other 29. Overall, Gilgeous-Alexander received 913 points, Jokic netted 787, and Antetokounmpo finished with 470.
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Despite Jokic being the first center in league history to average a triple-double, he came up short of Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the Thunder to a historic season with numbers that have only been achieved by a short list of all-time greats.
With that in mind, it begins to make sense that SGA is the one taking home the MVP hardware. Here's more on the MVP case that Gilgeous-Alexander built and how he was able to win the award over Antetokounmpo and Jokic.
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Why Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won NBA MVP award
Gilgeous-Alexander was named MVP after a historic season for a historically dominant Thunder team.
After finishing as MVP runner-up last season, Gilgeous-Alexander was on a mission from opening night of the 2024-25 season. He led the league in scoring by over two points per game, averaging a career-best 32.7 points while shooting an ultra-efficient 51.9 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from 3-point range.
Thanks largely to Gilgeous-Alexander's efforts, Oklahoma City won a franchise-record 68 games and had a whopping 16-game lead over the West's No. 2 seed. The Thunder also finished the season with the highest average point differential in league history.
The team superlatives provide context, but the fact is that Gilgeous-Alexander served as the beacon for the franchise's dominance.
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In addition to his scoring, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 6.4 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game and led the league with 16.7 win shares. Gilgeous-Alexander is just the fourth player in NBA history to average 32-plus points, five-plus rebounds, and six-plus assists in one season.
The others? Michael Jordan, James Harden, and Luka Doncic, each of whom averaged those figures twice, though none won MVP in those specific seasons.
Among the above seven seasons, Gilgeous-Alexander ranks first in shooting efficiency, and the Thunder's 68 wins are the most among any of the Doncic-, Harden- or Jordan-led squads.
Specific to this season, the Thunder's team successes dwarfed those of Jokic's Nuggets and Antetokounmpo's Bucks. Gilgeous-Alexander also turned in several MVP moments — he had 13 games of 40-plus points, including four games of 50-plus points in a 19-game span.
Factor in the rarity of Gilgeous-Alexander's statistical accomplishments and the dominance with which his team worked through the 2024-25 season, and you have the league's Most Valuable Player.
Thunder MVP winners
| Year | Player |
| 2014 | Kevin Durant |
| 2017 | Russell Westbrook |
| 2025 | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander |
Gilgeous-Alexander is the third Thunder player to win MVP, an eye-popping stat when considering the franchise technically began during the 2008-09 NBA season. He joins Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook on the exclusive list.
MORE: Key stats to know in the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Nikola Jokic MVP debate
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Nikola Jokic stats
| Stat | Gilgeous-Alexander | Jokic |
| Games (Record) | 76 (63-13) | 70 (46-24) |
| Points | 32.7 | 29.6 |
| Rebounds | 5.0 | 12.7 |
| Assists | 6.4 | 10.2 |
| Steals | 1.7 | 1.8 |
| Blocks | 1.0 | 0.6 |
| Turnovers | 2.4 | 3.3 |
| Minutes | 34.2 | 36.7 |
| FG% | 51.9 | 57.6 |
| 3P% | 37.5 | 41.7 |
| FT% | 89.8 | 80.0 |