Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may already be a three-time NBA All-Star and two-time All-NBA first team member, but he now has another title to add to his belt. The 26-year-old Hamilton, ON, native has been named the Kia NBA MVP for the first time — this after finishing second in the voting last season and fifth in the 2022-23 season.
In his MVP speech, Gilgeous-Alexander broke down in tears as he thanked everyone — and rightfully so, as he’s come a long way in his career.
Growing up in Hamilton, he wasn’t considered a basketball star, and he was notoriously cut from the St. Thomas More junior team in the ninth grade. He ended up playing for the school’s somewhat less glamourous midget squad. The squad ended up winning the city championship, and perhaps an early glimpse of his potential, Gilgeous-Alexander was named team MVP.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the recipient of the Michael Jordan Trophy as the 2024-25 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player. pic.twitter.com/kubWerv2OG
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 21, 2025
For this year’s award, a global media panel of 100 voters selected Gilgeous-Alexander as the winner, with the balloting tabulated by Ernst & Young LLP.
Gilgeous-Alexander easily beat Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić, who was the 2024 MVP. Jokić had won the award three times already and would have joined LeBron James and Wilt Chamberlain as a four-time winner if he received the award this year, but Gilgeous-Alexander received 71 first-place votes.
A global media panel of 100 voters selected the winner of the 2024-25 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award.
The complete voting results ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/j4nqOAWVT2
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 21, 2025
Gilgeous-Alexander is the second Canadian to earn the honour, following two-time winner Steve Nash (2004-05 and 2005-06), and the third OKC Thunder player to win the award, joining heavyweights Kevin Durant (2013-14) and Russell Westbrook (2016-17).
In the 2024-25 regular season, the seven-year NBA vet set career highs in points, assists and blocks per game, averaging 32.7 points, 5 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.72 steals and 1.01 blocks in 34.2 minutes in 76 games.
The 6’6″ star is also one of only two players in NBA history to average at least 32 points and six assists per game, shooting 50 per cent or better from the field in a season — the only other player to do this was Michael Jordan, who accomplished the feat twice, in the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons.