Shai Gilgeous-Alexander takes home a second straight Kia MVP award on Sunday.OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City Thunder chairman Clay Bennett, executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti and coach Mark Daigneault sat in the front row of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP news conference on Sunday.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s wife, Hailey, and son, Ares, joined them, along with family and friends, including his dad, Vaughn, and cousin, Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
His teammates were on a dais with him, wearing Burberry trench coats and Audemars Piguet watches – gifts from Gilgeous-Alexander to the players who helped him win his second MVP.
Gilgeous-Alexander thanked them all, including the city that welcomed him when the Thunder traded for him in 2019.
“The inner circle is something people forget about,” he said. “I get all the praise and people forget, I’m on the court for 2 1/2 hours every night and the rest of my days, you guys make my life seem this easy.”
Gilgeous-Alexander had another legacy-defining season, putting him in elite company as one of 14 players to win MVP in consecutive seasons. He was filled with appreciation.
“There’s a reason why you have success when you come through this program in this facility and this city,” he said. “Everything I just mentioned from the fans, the love they give, to the ownership, the front office, making things easy, making sure we’re getting our work in. The coach is playing the right brand of basketball, holding the right things accountable. The way things are in this organization, in this city, it breeds success and it’s no coincidence. I’m just lucky to end up here.”
Luck is a part of it. Work is, too.
Check out the 2025-26 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player's top highlights from his award-winning regular season!
Just about four months after the Thunder won the NBA championship and he earned Finals MVP, Gilgeous-Alexander opened the 2025-26 season with 35 points in a double-overtime victory against Houston.
He had 55 points in a double-overtime victory against Indiana in the second game.
He scored at least 30 points in 11 of Oklahoma City’s first 13 games, and when the Thunder roared to a 22-1 start, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 32.8 points, 6.4 assists, 1.4 steals and just 1.7 turnovers per game while shooting 55.6% overall and 44.3% on 3-pointers in those 23 games.
It was obvious from the start that the Thunder weren’t going to coast through the regular season and that Gilgeous-Alexander was not content.
“I’m not really after the success,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “There’s so many people in my life that sacrifice for me to just play this game that I love and I would be doing them a disservice if I didn’t give it my all. And that’s really what it’s about – making sure that when I’m done and I hang these shoes up that I give everything I have to the game. Then, whatever that looks like for me, I’ll live with. I’ll be more than pleased with what I got out of it.
“But none of the accolades and the points and all this stuff that’s cool on social media, none of that is what I’m after. I’m just after making sure that while I’m doing this thing, I give it my all and I’m not wasting nobody’s time.”
Time has not been wasted.
Stars around the league weigh in on the greatness of back-to-back Kia NBA MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander!
This season, compared to last season, Gilgeous-Alexander’s per-36-minute scoring average dipped by less than a point from 34.4 to 33.7. That said, he also attempted fewer shots while increasing his shooting percentage from .519 to .553 and his 3-point percentage from .375 to .386. His assists per-36 minutes also increased from 6.7 to 7.1.
When a player wins one MVP, his future candidacies for the award are not only measured against other great players and their outstanding seasons, but also against the player’s past performances. How did this season compare to his previous MVP season?
It’s the same situation other MVPs have encountered, especially Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, a three-time winner who was a finalist, along with San Antonio Spurs forward-center Victor Wembanyama, for the MVP award this season.
Gilgeous-Alexander posted career highs in shooting percentage and assists (6.6 per game) and generated the third-best scoring output (31.1 points per game), third-best free-throw shooting percentage (.879) and his second-best 3-point shooting percentage.
He became the first guard to average 30 or more points and shoot 55% or better from the field and joined Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history to average at least 30 points and shoot at least 50% in four consecutive seasons.
He scored 20 or more points in every game, extending his streak to an NBA-record 140 games with at least 20 points.
He has never been turnover-prone, but he kept turnovers to a minimum at 2.2 per game, leading to two more admirable statistics. He had seven games with 30 or more points and zero turnovers, which is tied for second-most in a season and became just the second player (Jordan is the other) to score 30 or more per game and average less than 2.5 turnovers per game for the third consecutive season.
He also was named Clutch Player of the Year and led the NBA in plus-minus at plus-788.
The Thunder followed up last season’s 68 wins with 64 and the overall No. 1 seed – with every team coming after them and the Spurs keeping pressure on the Thunder for the top seed.
“Naturally, teams and players in NBA get better and then naturally, people get more familiar with your game, more familiar with your team, how you play,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So the league just got better like it always does. And then you just have a bigger target on your back as a competitor and guys in NBA really compete.
“You have something somebody wants to become a target. It’s just simple. But all you can do is focus on yourself, focus on your work, focus on your craft. Not only myself, (but) these guys up here doing that has really allowed us to continue to have success through the ups and downs.”
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Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at jzillgitt@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.
