Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s back-to-back dominance cements Oklahoma City as a premier player factory, joining icons Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in a historic decade of elite individual achievement.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has officially been crowned the 2025-2026 NBA Most Valuable Player.
The only surprise to this year's MVP announcement was the timing and method of delivery. An official unveiling was set to take place on Prime Video at 6:30PM central time on Sunday night but ESPN's Shams Charania tweeted out the winner of the league's highest individual honor about 10 hours earlier. There's a good chance a large portion of Oklahoma City Thunder fans were either in church or in bed when the news broke.
Despite the early spoiler, the Thunder faithful have to be thrilled with yet another Michael Jordan Trophy residing in Oklahoma City. Gilgeous-Alexander's win marks the fourth MVP winner in the past 13 seasons for OKC. That's more than any other franchise over that time period.
Oklahoma City Thunder MVP History
Kevin Durant (2014). The Thunder's first ever Most Valuable Player led OKC to 59 wins and the #2 seed in the Western Conference despite Russell Westbrook playing only 46 games due to injury. Durant won his fourth scoring title and scored 25 points or more in 41 straight games. He averaged 32 points 7.4 rebounds, 5.5 assists and posted a 63.5% true shooting percentage. The 16 time All Star had one of the most famous and iconic MVP speech moments in sports history when he called his mother "the real MVP".
Russell Westbrook (2017). The Thunder's second MVP went full scorched earth after Durant left the team to join the Golden State Warriors. While most prognosticators predicted that OKC would be irrelevant and lottery bound after his departure, Westbrook led an inspired, rag tag bunch to the #6 seed in the West. And he made history along the way. Westbrook became the first player since Oscar Robertson in 1962 to average a triple double over an entire season with 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game. He broke the NBA record with most triple doubles in a single season. And as a cherry on top, Westbrook won his first scoring title.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2025). The Thunder's third MVP led OKC to one of the greatest seasons in NBA history with 68 wins and an all-time point differential record. Gilgeous-Alexander won his first scoring title with 32.7 points per game. He joined a guy named Michael Jordan as the only players to ever average 30 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.5 steals, 1 block and 50% shooting in a season. Gilgeous-Alexander would eventually go on to become only the fourth player in league history to win the scoring title, MVP and Finals MVP in the same season.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2026). The most incredulous thing you can say about the Thunder's fourth MVP is that he somehow topped his previous season, which was one of the greatest individual seasons in NBA history. Despite OKC's second best player missing the majority of the season and the Thunder as a whole being one of the most injured throughout the year, Gilgeous-Alexander kept Oklahoma City on top of the NBA standings wire to wire. He became only the 14th player in league history to win back to back MVP trophies. The rest of Gilgeous-Alexander's remarkable season is still yet to be written.