When Shai Gilgeous-Alexander entered the NBA seven years ago, he took the 20-year-old shipowner from Canada only 10 games to possess an initial job.
Getting your driver’s license took a little longer.
While practicing a learning permit during his rookie season, Gilgous-Alexander trusted teammates or Uber to move around Los Angeles, where the clippers had recruited him 11th in general and practiced 14 miles from their sand in the center.
There was a lot ahead to navigate. He unexpectedly changed Oklahoma City after his rookie season, he landed with a rebuilding Thunder franchise that would win only 46 games combined between 2020 and 2022. However, this season, Gilgous-Alxander has arrived among the greats of the game.
On Wednesday, the Thunder shipowner was appointed the most valuable player in the NBA after producing leading averages in the league at points (32.7), free throwing attempts (7.9) and shooting attempts (21.8) while leading Oklahoma City to a 68 -winning franchise and the first sown at the West Conference during the second consecutive season. The prize is voted by media members.
Gilgeous-Alexander received 71 votes in the first place and 913 points in general from a panel of 100 voters.
The center of Denver, Nikola Jokic, who this season became the third player in the NBA history to average a triple double, finished second with 787 points, including 29 votes of the first place. They were the only players who received first place votes. Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee was third, Jayson Tatum de Boston was fourth and Donovan Mitchell de Cleveland finished fifth.
Jokic has ended among the first two to vote for the prize in five consecutive seasons, including the victories in 2021, 2022 and last season, when Gilgeous-Alexander was runner-up. In April, Jokic scored most points never registered in a triple-double, with 61.
The Thunder are in the final of the West Conference for the first time since 2016, and if it expires the Minnesota Timberwolves, they would advance to the first appearance in the NBA finals of the team since 2012. Although the franchise won the 1979 NBA championship during its incarnation as Seattle Supersonics, the Thunder has never won a NBA title since its transfer to Oklahoma City in 2008.
Gilgous-Alexander joins Steve Nash as the only MVP winners who come from Canada. An international player has won the last seven MVP awards; A player born in the United States has not finished among the first three in MVP vote since 2021.
“He is a special player,” Jokic said about Gilgeous-Alexander after Oklahoma City defeated Denver in the semifinals of the conference last week. “His selection of shots, his ability to make his own shots, separation, playing his rhythm. Defensively, he is always stealing the balls [and] Always blocking the shots. … is a special player. “
