{"id":446949,"date":"2026-05-18T01:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/446949\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T01:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:23:10","slug":"shai-gilgeous-alexander-becomes-the-14th-player-to-win-back-to-back-kia-nba-mvps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/446949\/","title":{"rendered":"Shai Gilgeous-Alexander becomes the 14th player to win back-to-back Kia NBA MVPs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The win for SGA, who is Canadian, marks the eighth consecutive time that the NBA\u2019s MVP was born outside the U.S.<\/p>\n

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) \u2014 He\u2019s the best player on the best team. And the voters say he\u2019s the best player in the league, too.<\/p>\n

Again.<\/p>\n

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder won the Kia NBA\u2019s Most Valuable Player on Sunday for the second consecutive year. He became the 18th player to win at least two MVP awards and the 14th to win them in back-to-back fashion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho he is has never changed,\u201d Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. \u201cI think he\u2019s touched up the edges on his game and on his leadership and on his perspective, just like anybody else that\u2019s coming of age.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The win for Gilgeous-Alexander, who is Canadian, marks the eighth consecutive time that the NBA\u2019s MVP was born outside the U.S. The run started with Milwaukee\u2019s Giannis Antetokounmpo (born in Greece, of Nigerian descent) in 2019 and 2020, then Denver\u2019s Nikola Jokic (Serbia) in 2021 and 2022, Philadelphia\u2019s Joel Embiid (born in Cameroon but has since become a U.S. citizen) in 2023 and Jokic again in 2024.<\/p>\n

And in 2025 and 2026, SGA is the MVP.<\/p>\n

\u201cShai\u2019s so good at creating separation when he\u2019s able to play 1-on-1,\u201d Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick said. \u201cHe\u2019s just really hard to stop, for any defender.\u201d<\/p>\n

International players finished 1-2-3 in the MVP balloting for the fifth consecutive season, with Jokic and San Antonio\u2019s star French center Victor Wembanyama the other finalists this year.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Last season the order was Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic and Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n

\u2014 In 2024, it was Jokic, then Gilgeous-Alexander and then-Dallas guard, now Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic of Slovenia.<\/p>\n

\u2014 In 2023, it was Embiid, then Jokic, then Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n

\u2014 In 2022, it was Jokic, then Embiid, then Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander and Wembanyama will face off Monday night when the Thunder and Spurs open Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals<\/a> in Oklahoma City. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is expected at Monday\u2019s game to formally present Gilgeous-Alexander with a trophy for the third time in 12 months \u2014 the MVP award last May, the NBA Finals MVP award last June, and now this.<\/p>\n

The MVP win is Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s second major individual award this season; he was also voted the league\u2019s Clutch Player of the Year by an overwhelming margin \u2014 he got 96 of 100 first-place votes in that balloting, paying tribute to how great his performances tend to be in the final five minutes of close games.<\/p>\n

Then again, he\u2019s pretty good no matter how much time is on the clock.<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander was second in the league with 31.1 points per game, second only to Doncic and his 33.5-point average. He also extended his NBA-record streak of regular season games with at least 20 points to 140 and counting; it\u2019ll carry into next season as well.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s delightfully boring \u2014 one of the few mid-range specialists in the game, someone who excels at drawing fouls, isn\u2019t a look-at-me type and gives some of the most thoughtful answers of anyone in the league. Emotions aren\u2019t worth his time; staying calm is always his preferred move.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just gives me the best chance to make the right decision on the next play, which is what\u2019s most important,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander said. \u201cI\u2019ve noticed throughout my career and through personal experiences that emotions only get in the way of critical and smart thinking \u2014 especially in those moments when I want to get the job done the most. I try to put my emotions aside and stay locked in on what\u2019s present and what matters most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jokic not winning the award continues an odd trend: those who average a triple-double, often thought of as the holy grail of in-game accomplishment, almost never win MVP.<\/p>\n

Jokic had the seventh instance of a player finishing a season averaging a triple-double \u2014 at least 10 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds per game \u2014 by putting up 27.7 points, a league-best 12.9 rebounds and a league-best 10.7 assists per game.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t good enough for MVP. Russell Westbrook averaged a triple-double four times and won MVP only once in those years. Oscar Robertson averaged a triple-double in 1961-62; he didn\u2019t win MVP that season. And now, Jokic has done it twice \u2014 with no MVPs to show for it, though he has won the award on three other occasions.<\/p>\n

Golden State\u2019s Stephen Curry was the last player born in the U.S. to be in the top three of the MVP balloting; he was third in 2021 behind Jokic and Embiid. The last U.S. winner of the award was James Harden, then of Houston, in 2018. Harden has played for four different franchises since then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The win for SGA, who is Canadian, marks the eighth consecutive time that the NBA\u2019s MVP was born…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,209042,105],"class_list":["post-446949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander-kia-nba-mvp-2025-26","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}