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The Oklahoma City Thunder are the favorites to win the NBA title, and their superstar player is a reason why.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won his first NBA MVP Award Wednesday.
The Canadian star and league’s leading scorer posted career highs with 32.7 points and 6.4 assists per game, carrying the Thunder to the No. 1 seed in the West with an NBA-best 68-14 record.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished in second place last year to Nikola Jokić. The Thunder defeated Jokić’s Denver Nuggets in seven games in the second round.
Gilgeous-Alexander was the 11th overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets in 2018 but was quickly traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. He only spent one year there, though, and was part of a package that sent Paul George to Los Angeles.
Since the trade, Gilgeous-Alexander has been a diamond in the rough, and he will soon be named first-team All-NBA a third straight year. He’s also led the NBA in free throws made per game the last two seasons.
Oklahoma City kicked off the Western Conference finals with a 114-88 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, who fell in the same round to the Dallas Mavericks last year. OKC trailed by four points at the half but outscored Minnesota 70-40 in the second half.
This is the furthest OKC has gotten in the playoffs since 2016, when the Thunder blew a 3-1 lead to the 73-9 Golden State Warriors in the conference finals. The Warriors then did the same to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Gilgeous-Alexander beat out Jokić, who was seeking a fourth MVP in five years. No one has won four MVPs in a five-year span since James did it from 2009 to 2013.
Jokić averaged 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 10.2 assists per game, the first time he averaged a triple-double in a season. And he became the third player to do so, joining Oscar Robertson and teammate Russell Westbrook, who has done it four times.
Oklahoma City, formerly known as the Seattle SuperSonics, are still looking for their first NBA title since moving (Seattle won the NBA title in 1979). The Thunder last made the NBA Finals in 2012, when they lost to James and the Miami Heat.
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