When Victoria, B.C.'s Steve Nash won consecutive NBA Most Valuable Player awards in 2004 and 2005, it was an almost unthinkable achievement for a Canadian basketball player. Over the first six decades of the league, Canadian starters were a rarity, let alone all-stars. An MVP? Unimaginable. A two-time winner? Even more improbable.
But Hamilton's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will match Nash on Sunday night when he is named back-to-back NBA MVP, beating out three-time winner Nikola Jokic, rising star Victor Wembanyama, scoring leader Luka Doncic, and others. ESPN first reported Gilgeous-Alexander's win early Sunday afternoon.
Historic Achievement
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.1 points per game, second in the league after leading all scorers at 32.7 a year ago, propelling the Oklahoma City Thunder to 64 wins, the best record in the NBA for the second straight season (they won 68 games last season and eventually the NBA title). He also shot a career-best 55.3% from the field and 38.6% on three-pointers, his second-best outside shooting year, while averaging a new high of 6.6 assists per game for a team that spent most of the season without its second-best player, Jalen Williams.
Gilgeous-Alexander becomes the 14th player to win MVP two years in a row and can match Boston Celtics legends Bill Russell and Larry Bird, along with Wilt Chamberlain, if he wins a third straight in 2026-27. He topped Chamberlain's mark of scoring at least 20 points in 126 straight games by one game in March and became only the third player to reach at least 20 points in every game of a season.
Joining Elite Company
The Canadian superstar has now joined giants like Michael Jordan, LeBron James (who did it twice), Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Stephen Curry (the last guard to repeat as MVP), Jokic, and Tim Duncan with consecutive MVP wins. He also has won the award more times than legends like Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kobe Bryant, Julius Erving, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, and Kevin Durant.
He beat out Jokic and Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo last season, was second to Jokic the year prior, and was fifth before that. Nash also has a runner-up on his resume but no other top-five finishes and was All-NBA first team three times, while this will already be the fourth appearance on the first team for Gilgeous-Alexander.
Canadian Greatness
There can now be no doubt that Gilgeous-Alexander is the greatest Canadian basketball player ever, and he is one of the all-time great Canadian athletes, period. All before his 28th birthday.
Jokic played 65 games, barely meeting the 65-game criteria to be eligible for the award, while Gilgeous-Alexander played in 68. Doncic, Detroit's Cade Cunningham, and Wembanyama only played in 64 but qualified through a dispute process (Doncic and Cunningham) and because Wembanyama's NBA Cup game counted as an extra appearance.
Gilgeous-Alexander already was named NBA Clutch Player of the Year (beating out fellow Canadian Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets), and his cousin Nickeil Alexander-Walker of Atlanta was named Most Improved Player.
Gilgeous-Alexander is looking to repeat as champion with the Thunder while also repeating as NBA Finals and Western Conference Finals MVP. Not bad for the 11th pick of the 2018 draft, who came off the bench for much of his lone NCAA season at Kentucky. He was an easy choice as Postmedia's athlete of the year for 2025 and could well be the choice again if Oklahoma City repeats.
