The Oklahoma City superstar joins an elite circle of legends, cementing his dominance while shifting focus from individual hardware toward leading the Thunder to consecutive NBA championships.
For only the 14th time in NBA history, a player has won back-to-back league MVP awards.
Per ESPN’s Shams Charania, Oklahoma City Thunder star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been voted the 2025-26 NBA MVP.
The 27-year old scoring specialist also won the award last year, en route to leading the Thunder a championship season and also claiming a Finals MVP and regular-season scoring title in the process.
For more on the meteoric rise of one of the NBA’s most consistent and complete superstars, Thunder Roundtable writer Daniel Bell has more on Gilgeous-Alexander’s second straight MVP nod.
This year, though Gilgeous-Alexander was just 31 points shy of winning another scoring title, he has a chance to repeat much of the same success as last season.
With regular season MVP in the bag, the guard could take the Finals favorite Thunder all the way to another championship and earn another Finals MVP recognition in the process.
Gilgeous-Alexander may not be in a large market, stand at 7-foot-4 or draw a lot of attention to himself off the court, but his talent is undeniable and could make him the league’s best current player.
He took his second consecutive MVP win over other superstar-level players like Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić (the last back-to-back winner) and San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama.
Next, Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder will face Wembanyama’s Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, which is scheduled to tip off on Monday night.
The award win is just another arrow in the quiver of one of the NBA’s best. But the road is far from finished on achieving the ultimate goal: not back-to-back MVP awards, but repeat NBA championships.
