Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Wins 2025 NBA MVP Award

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the 2025 season. The Hamilton, Ontario native led the Thunder to an NBA-best 68-14 record and the number-one seed in the Western Conference. SGA earned 71 first-place votes and 29 second-place votes to win his first NBA MVP award.

Gilgeous-Alexander’s win is a historic one, especially for a Canadian athlete. In a country where ice hockey is the predominant sport for youths, SGA’s MVP award will certainly turn a few younger Canadian athletes into hardwood fans. This article will discuss Shai’s basketball career and path to the NBA MVP award, as well as look at the history of NBA MVPs and what it means for SGA to be a part of basketball immortality.

Who is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was born on July 12th, 1998, in Toronto, Ontario. Both his parents were athletes: his mother, Charmaine Gilgeous, was a track runner and competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics, while his father, Vaughn Alexander, was a star high school basketball player. SGA was born in Toronto but raised in Hamilton, Ontario. He switched high schools several times, including moving down to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for his junior and senior years to improve his basketball skills.

SGA was a four-star recruit out of high school and was in demand by multiple colleges across the United States. He would ultimately settle on the University of Kentucky Wildcats, one of the strongest blue-blood schools for college basketball in the country. Gilgeous-Alexander would play just one season in Kentucky, and after losing to the University of Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen of the March Madness tournament, he declared for the NBA Draft.

NBA Draft and Early Trades

Shai’s path to his first NBA MVP award wasn’t always a straight one. He was originally drafted eleventh overall in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets. Just a few moments later, SGA was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for the twelfth overall pick and two second-round picks. That draft pick that SGA was traded for would become the current Charlotte Hornets player, Miles Bridges.

SGA would play his rookie season with the Clippers, but remained a bench rotation player with limited action. He represented the World All-Star Team at the 2019 Rising Stars Game and was recognized as an elite scorer in his limited minutes.
 

That offseason, everything changed for Shai. He was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a massive package that included Danilo Gallinari, five first-round draft picks and two pick swaps for Paul George. In his time with OKC, Shai has developed into one of the best players in the league. In addition to the NBA MVP award, he also won the league’s scoring title, averaging 33.3 points per game on 56.3% shooting from the field.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander MVP Significance

Shai’s NBA MVP award is a significant one for many reasons. He is the second Canadian to win the NBA’s MVP award after Steve Nash won back-to-back MVPs in 2004 and 2005. SGA is also the third player in Oklahoma City Thunder history to win the MVP after Russell Westbrook did in his historic triple-double season in 2016-2017, and Kevin Durant did in 2014.

It also broke the streak of six consecutive years without a guard being named MVP. The last guard to be NBA MVP was James Harden in 2018. Since then, Nikola Jokic has won three, Giannis Antetokounmpo has won two, and Joel Embiid has won once. Harden was also the last American to win the MVP, as SGA extended the streak of non-Americans winning to seven years.

Who Has Won the Most NBA MVP Awards?

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won what should be the first of many NBA MVP awards this year. But who has won the most MVPs in NBA history? That honour goes to Kareem Abdul Jabbar, who won the award an NBA record six times. Abdul Jabbar won the MVP award in 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, and 1980. He won three with the Los Angeles Lakers and three with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Two NBA legends have won the MVP award five times in their careers: Bill Russell and Michael Jordan. The incredible thing about Michael Jordan’s MVPs is that he won three before he left to play baseball and two after he returned to the NBA.

Wilt Chamberlain and Lebron James have won the NBA MVP award four times each. Lebron won back-to-back MVPs on two occasions: in 2009 and 2010, and then again in 2012 and 2013. He won the first two awards with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the second two with the Miami Heat.

In all, the Boston Celtics have the most NBA MVP awards with 10, although a Celtic has not won the MVP since 1986 when Larry Bird won the third of his three consecutive MVPs. The Los Angeles Lakers have the second-most NBA MVPs with eight. The most recent Laker to win the MVP was Kobe Bryant in 2008. This was Kobe’s only NBA MVP.

Recent NBA MVP Winners

Betting on the NBA MVP Award

The NBA MVP award is a popular NBA Futures bet to place either before or during the NBA season. On online betting sites like BetVictor Canada, the NBA MVP futures board is usually posted at some point during the offseason. Bettors can place bets or build a portfolio of NBA MVP futures bets before the season begins and continue to add new bets during the season.

For Canadian bettors, you can expect Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to be right at the top of the 2025-2026 NBA MVP oddsboard. As the defending MVP, SGA’s will definitely have one of the highest odds to repeat as MVP next year. Along with perennial favourites like Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, SGA will be one of the more popular bets to make this offseason.

FAQs