Shai Gilgeous-Alexander concluded a historic season on Sunday with the first NBA title for Oklahoma City. The 26-year-old Canadian achieved something this season that previously only basketball icons Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had accomplished.
Gilgeous-Alexander has been the best basketball player in the NBA for the past nine months. The guard from Oklahoma City Thunder was elected the most valuable player (MVP) of the regular season for the first time, after becoming the top scorer in the league with an average of 32.7 points per game.
Oklahoma City Thunder was the best team in the regular competition and continued that line in the playoffs. With Gilgeous-Alexander at the helm, the team in the Western Conference successively defeated Memphis Grizzlies, Denver Nuggets, and Minnesota Timberwolves.
In the final of the playoffs against Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder needed a decisive seventh game. Partly due to 29 points, 12 assists and 5 rebounds from Gilgeous-Alexander, the home club won 103-91, making coach Mark Daigneault’s team NBA champion for the second time. The first time was in 1979, when the team played in Seattle under the name SuperSonics.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.3 points per game against the Pacers and was elected MVP of the playoff final. ‘SGA’ is only the fourth player to become MVP, top scorer and champion in an NBA season. The other three belong to the ten best basketball players ever: Jordan, O’Neal and Abdul-Jabbar.
Gilgeous-Alexander remains modest after top season
With the NBA trophy in his hand, Gilgeous-Alexander could hardly believe that he had joined such a unique list. “It is sometimes difficult to imagine that I am such a type of basketball player,” he said. “Of course I used to have dreams, like every child. I am very happy that my dreams have now come true.”
Gilgeous-Alexander emphasized throughout the season that the strength of Oklahoma City Thunder lies in the team, and not only in him. He did that again after the final. “These trophies are not only for me,” he said. “They are for everyone who has helped me.”
It was therefore up to Gilgeous-Alexander’s teammates to put his historic year into perspective.
“We will look back on this later as one of the best seasons ever by a player in the NBA,” said power forward Chet Holmgren. “And yet Shai is never about him. He is always talking about the team, about winning. He is a great basketball player, but as a person he is even better.”