Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander becomes 14th player to win back-to-back MVP awards

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been named the recipient of the Michael Jordan Trophy as the 2025-26 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player, league sources told ClutchPoints. ESPN’s Shams Charania is also reporting Gilgeous-Alexander’s victory.

After winning the MVP award for the first time in his seventh NBA season last year, Gilgeous-Alexander has now become just the 14th player in league history to ever win the award back-to-back. Nikola Jokic, who was a finalist for the award yet again this season, was the last player to win the award in consecutive years during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.

Gilgeous-Alexander joins Bill Russell (1961-63), Wilt Chamberlain (1966-68), Kareem Abdul Jabbar (1971-72, 1976-77), Moses Malone (1982-83), Larry Bird (1984-86), Magic Johnson (1989-90), Michael Jordan (1991-92), Tim Duncan (2002-03), Steve Nash (2005-06), LeBron James (2009-10, 2012-13), Stephen Curry (2015-16), Giannis Antetokounmpo (2019-20), and Jokic (2021-22) as those who have won the MVP award in back-to-back seasons.

Both Kareem and LeBron achieved this feat two different times in their careers. Russell, Chamberlain, and Bird are the only players in NBA history to ever win the award three straight times, a quest Gilgeous-Alexander will embark on once the 2026-27 season begins.

In 68 regular-season games this season, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game while shooting 55.3 percent from the floor and 38.6 percent from 3-point range. He ranked second in scoring, total points, and field goals made this season, while ranking first in Win Shares and both free throws made and attempted.

This is the fourth straight year Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged at least 30 points per game, putting him on a list with Jordan, Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, and Adrian Dantley as the only other players in league history to accomplish such.

More importantly, Gilgeous-Alexander scored at least 20 points in all 68 games he played in this season, extending his streak of consecutive games with 20-plus points to 140 straight games. On March 12, Gilgeous-Alexander broke Chamberlain’s historic NBA record of 126 consecutive games with 20-plus points set between 1961 and 1963.

Once again, Gilgeous-Alexander’s offensive brilliance set the stage for the Thunder to finish with the best record in the NBA, claiming the league’s No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs with a 64-18 record despite Jalen Williams only playing 33 games. Over the last three seasons with Gilgeous-Alexander emerging as one of the best players in the entire world, the Thunder have gone 189-57 during the regular season, the best three-year record in the NBA.

In addition to earning All-Star honors for the fourth consecutive season, Gilgeous-Alexander was also named the Western Conference Player of the Month in December and earned Western Conference Player of the Week honors four times (Weeks 2, 5, 12, and 21).

He was also recently named the 2025-26 NBA Clutch Player of the Year award recipient.

Denver Nuggets three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and San Antonio Spurs star big man Victor Wembanyama joined Gilgeous-Alexander as the two other finalists for the 2025-26 MVP award. Jokic finished second in the voting for the MVP award after averaging 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 10.7 assists per game during the regular season.

Gilgeous-Alexander and Wembanyama will face off in the Western Conference Finals, with the Thunder and Spurs starting the series on Monday night.

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