Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a pretty strong case for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award. He’s the best player on the NBA’s best team record-wise, and it’s clear that he’s the Oklahoma City Thunder’s engine.
Among those who believe Gilgeous-Alexander could take home the MVP trophy this season is WNBA Candace Parker.
Candace Parker Explains Why She Believes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the Frontrunner for MVP
When the Thunder’s game against the Sacramento Kings reached halftime, Parker explained why she believes Gilgeous-Alexander is in the lead in the MVP race.
“SGA is just proving that there’s levels to this,” Parker said during TNT’s Halftime Show. “There’s a reason why he is frontrunner for MVP, and a lot of it has to do with the entire defense built to stop him.”
Parker won the WNBA’s MVP in 2008 and 2013 and established herself as one of the game’s greats, so she recognizes greatness when she sees it.
The Thunder have been dominant from start to finish this season. They currently sit at 60-12 and have the No. 1 seed in the brutal Western Conference wrapped up. Gilgous-Alexander’s 32.8 points, 6.3 assists, and five rebounds a game have highlighted their all-around excellent season.
The only other player in the same conversation as Gilgeous-Alexander for MVP is Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, who has taken home the trophy in three of the last four seasons.
Jokić has continued his all-around dominant play. Two factors that work against him is that the Nuggets have taken a noticeable, but not drastic, decline this season. The Thunder being in a league above the Nuggets makes Gilgeous-Alexander’s case look better.
The other factor is voter fatigue. Jokić winning the award as much as he has in a four-year span – there’s a case to be made that he should have won four consecutive MVPs – may sway voters to vote for Gilgeous-Alexander because he’s a new face to the award.
Whether he does or doesn’t, Gilgeous-Alexander has only continued to cement himself as a legend in the making for Oklahoma City. Ever since they acquired him in 2019, he has not disappointed in the slightest and has gradually become more dominant every season. It could all culminate in him getting the franchise its first MVP since Russell Westbrook won the award in 2017.
Even if he doesn’t win, the Thunder could certainly compensate if the franchise brings home its first title since moving to Oklahoma City in 2008. Gilgeous-Alexander will likely do his part to get them there, but any title team knows that it will take everyone else’s contributions to get the job done.
But it doesn’t hurt to have someone who could be the 2025 NBA MVP on their side.