Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander expected to be 2nd Canadian to win NBA MVP when award announced tonight

The Associated Press

· Posted: May 21, 2025 10:20 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

It's time: The NBA volition unveil this season's Most Valuable Player connected Wednesday night.

The victor volition beryllium Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver's Nikola Jokic oregon Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo. It'll beryllium the seventh consecutive clip that a subordinate calved extracurricular of the U.S. has won the award.

Antetokounmpo, of Greek and Nigerian descent, won successful 2019 and 2020. Jokic, a Serbian, won successful 2021, 2022 and 2024. And Philadelphia's Joel Embiid, who was calved successful Cameroon but has since go a U.S. citizen, won the grant successful 2023.

This year's favourite, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, is Gilgeous-Alexander — the Canadian defender who won the league's scoring rubric this play and led the Thunder to an NBA-best 68-14 record.

Gilgeous-Alexander, of Hamilton, Ont., averaged 32.7 points, 6.4 assists and 5 rebounds per game, and is successful enactment to triumph the grant for the archetypal time. He was 5th successful the MVP voting successful 2023 and 2nd past season.

Basketball Hall of Famer Steve Nash, of Victoria, B.C., is the lone different Canadian to triumph the award, winning it consecutively successful 2005-06 erstwhile helium played with the Phoenix Suns.

Jokic had a history-making season, becoming the archetypal halfway to mean a triple-double — 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists per crippled — portion besides finishing arsenic the archetypal subordinate since each those stats were tracked to decorativeness successful the NBA's apical 3 successful each 3 of those categories.

WATCH | Is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Canada's astir stylish jock close now?

Antetokounmpo averaged 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game.

The MVP award, similar astir different NBA honours, was voted connected by a planetary sheet of 100 writers and broadcasters who screen the league and formed ballots soon earlier the commencement of the playoffs.

The different awards that were portion of that voting process and person already had their results unveiled: Cleveland's Kenny Atkinson winning manager of the year, Atlanta's Dyson Daniels winning astir improved player, San Antonio's Stephon Castle winning rookie of the year, Cleveland's Evan Mobley winning antiaircraft subordinate of the year, New York's Jalen Brunson winning clutch subordinate of the year, and Boston's Payton Pritchard winning sixth antheral of the year.

Other awards announced by the league since the extremity of the regular season: Golden State's Stephen Curry won the Twyman-Stokes teammate of the twelvemonth award, Warriors teammate Draymond Green won the hustle award, Oklahoma City's Sam Presti won enforcement of the twelvemonth and Boston's Jrue Holiday won the sportsmanship grant for the 2nd clip successful his vocation arsenic good arsenic the league's societal justness award.