Led the Oklahoma City Thunder to 68 wins (first time since 2012-13), won his first scoring title, a series away from competing in the NBA Finals, having four 50-point games, history was made, and took the next step in his career to win this season’s MVP.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finally won after being a runner-up during last season’s race with Nikola Jokic and others.

Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 32.7 points per game on excellent 51.9% shooting, plus averaged 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 1.0 blocks. This created history, only done by one other player – Michael Jordan.

Shai and Jordan are the only two players in NBA history to average 30 points on 50% shooting, five rebounds, five assists, 1.5 steals and one block per game in a season.

The 26-year-old is the third player in franchise history to win MVP. Kevin Durant won it once back in 2014, and Russell Westbrook won it once in 2017. An elite group of athletes Shai has now been added to.

This is the third season in a row where Shai averaged 30+ points per game, which has allowed him to be in major award conversations by fans and media for a while.

After being named a first-team All-NBA selection in the past two seasons, Gilgeous-Alexander is eligible to sign a massive four-year, $294 million supermax extension this upcoming offseason.

If he were to sign this extension, Shai would make an annual salary of $73.3 million. This would be record shattering and be an all-time high in league history.

According to Jake Fischer and Marc Stein, the Phoenix Suns have not initiated any trade conversations surrounding Kevin Durant; this comes after months of trade speculation since seeing Phoenix trying to trade him at the deadline.

Per multiple reports, the Suns may try to keep Durant in their long-term plans of attempting to win the franchise’s first NBA championship. An official ruling has not been made yet.

New general manager Brian Gregory said his order of priority is finding a head coach who is aligned with him and owner Mat Ishbia; then he will focus on roster reconstruction and what is best for the team.

Plus, in addition to waiting for the perfect coach, Phoenix is seeing how the Giannis Antetokounmpo situation will unfold. This will set the market for Durant, as teams who have an interest in Durant also has an interest in Milwaukee’s superstar. Beyond that, third-team trade facilitators may have a preference of being involved with Giannis’ situation than Durants.

Why? Because the payout would be much higher for them than what they would get back in return for facilitating Durant to whatever team he may land on.

If he doesn’t remain in Phoenix, teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, and San Antonio Spurs have been connected to the multi-time champion. For the Houston Rockets, they are “highly unlikely” to trade their young team for an aging veteran.

Durant will be 37 years old next year, where he is set to make $54.7 million. He will become an unrestricted free agent in 2026-27. Next season will see Durant in the final year of his $194 million contract he originally signed with the Brooklyn Nets back in 2022.

According to the man himself, next season will most likely be the final season fans see Nicolas Batum, as he is ready to ride off into the sunset.

The 36-year-old has a $4.9 million player option with the Los Angeles Clippers for next season, which he’s expected to pick up. Batum played in 78 games, averaging 17.5 minutes per appearance.

“There’s a very, very good chance that the next season will be my last,” Batum said.

He will be entering his 18th season in the NBA, and playing his sixth season with Los Angeles. In total, Batum has played for the Portland Trail Blazers, Charlotte Hornets, and Philadelphia 76ers.

In 1,131 career games, Batum averaged 10.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.1 assists. He was a former first-round pick out of the 2008 draft class.