It’s official: Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won the 2024-2025 NBA Most Valuable Player award, beating out Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, who had claimed the honor in three of the last four seasons.
Over the past few years, Gilgeous-Alexander has cemented his place among the NBA’s elite. Since the Thunder became a franchise in 2008, he’s now the third player in team history to win MVP, joining Kevin Durant in 2014 and Russell Westbrook in 2017.
How Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Beat Nikola Jokić
Defeating a player like Jokić is no easy task. So, how did Gilgeous-Alexander pull it off? Let’s break it down.
First, he was the best player on the league’s best team. That alone tends to draw MVP attention. In this case, Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder to their second straight dominant season in the Western Conference. They finished with a 68-14 record, becoming one of just seven teams in NBA history to win at least 68 games.
Second, the numbers back it up. Gilgeous-Alexander led the league in scoring at 32.7 points per game and added 6.4 assists, five rebounds, 1.7 steals and one block per game during the 2024-25 regular season. He shot nearly 52% from the field and 37.5% from 3-point range. Most of those stats are career highs — and that’s saying something for a guy who had already made two All-NBA first teams. He’s all but guaranteed a third.
Some highlights of the Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has won the NBA MVP award 🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/GS2xPJPVHX
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Those are just the basics. Let’s dig deeper.
He had the most 30-point games (49), 40-point games (13), and 50-point games (four).
That scoring resume alone makes a strong case. But defense matters too. The Thunder finished the season with the NBA’s best defensive rating, allowing just 106.6 points per 100 possessions.
He also ranked second in steals and first in plus/minus.
Some might argue voters snubbed Jokić due to voter fatigue. He finished with a career high in points (29.6), rebounds (12.7) and assists (10.2) per game, becoming just the third player in league history to average a triple-double. Only Westbrook and Oscar Robertson previously accomplished the feat, though Robertson, too, lost the MVP award.
Jokic finished with a .557 field goal percentage and a .417 3-point percentage, adding 1.8 steals and 0.6 blocks per game.
But even if Jokić had an incredible season, Gilgeous-Alexander also delivered MVP-level performances all season long. He led the best team, stuffed the stat sheet, and played high-level defense. That’s a convincing case.
And though it’s a regular-season award, perhaps the best evidence of Gilgeous-Alexander deserving the honor was when his Thunder defeated the Nuggets in the NBA Playoffs.
