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.
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