The battle won, now comes the war.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the NBA’s most valuable player for 2025-26. For the second consecutive season, he’s been recognized for the league’s top individual honour. At 28 years old and in his eighth season, the Oklahoma City Thunder star from Hamilton, Ont., joined a list of 16 all-time greats to win multiple MVP awards and became just the 14th player to win the award in back-to-back seasons.
In second place? The expectation was that it would be Victor Wembanyama, the emerging superstar with the San Antonio Spurs. However when voting results were announced Sunday, Wembanyama finished third behind Nikola Jokic by a narrow margin.
Conveniently, the NBA announced the results of the award voting the night before the Spurs and Thunder – and Gilgeous-Alexander and Wembanyama – open a Western Conference Finals match-up that has seemed pre-ordained since the two clubs emerged as the best two teams in the NBA over the course of the regular season (Game 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet+).
And given the depth of the two rosters, the youthful stardom throughout their respective lineups and the quality of the organizations’ respective infrastructure, it’s easy to imagine the Thunder and Spurs having to fight for the right to advance to the NBA Finals many times in the next five-to-10 years.
It has a chance to become one of the NBA’s great rivalries and at the centre of it are sure to be Gilgeous-Alexander — the smooth, yet relentless guard who marries supreme skill with subtle athleticism and bottomless drive — and Wembanyama, a one-of-a-kind physical prospect whose combination of discipline and talent suggests that he may actually be able to harness his limitless potential, which would place him on a trajectory to join the sport’s all-time greats if it happens.
It’s a path that Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder are already on as they seek to become the first team in eight years to repeat as NBA champions, having positioned themselves to legitimately think about themselves as a budding dynasty.
Wembanyama and the Spurs will need to go through Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder to reach their goals, and the pride of Canadian basketball isn’t going to be stepping aside for anyone any time soon.
With the MVP win, Gilgeous-Alexander joins fellow Canadian basketball legend Steve Nash as the only Canadian to win multiple MVPs, a feat Nash accomplished in 2005-06 and 2006-07.
When Gilgeous-Alexander — in a rare display of the riotous river of deep confidence that flows through him — gave his “I’m the black Steve Nash” quote to GQ magazine, it was before the 2021-22 season. At the time Gilgeous-Alexander was starting his fourth season, having played just 35 games due to injury the year before. He’d never been an all-star. The Thunder had won 22 games in 2020-21 and would win just 24 in 2021-22.
But as things have played out, Gilgeous-Alexander may have been aiming low in comparing himself to the hall-of-famer Nash, his mentor and long the gold standard for Canadian basketball.
How about Michael Jordan in a headband?
Gilgeous-Alexander has finished fifth, second, first and now first again in the MVP voting, conducted by a panel of 100 media members (I am one of the voters who chose Gilgeous-Alexander this season). He won the Finals MVP when leading the Thunder to their first title and earned recognition as the league’s ‘Clutch Player of the Year’ in lifting injury-plagued OKC to a league-best 64 wins this season.
Statistically, his 2025-26 season — where Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.1 points, 6.6 assists and 1.4 steals while shooting 60.2 per cent on two-point field goals, 38.6 per cent from three and 87.9 per cent from the free throw line while committing just 2.2 turnovers per game — combined eye-popping levels of productivity with machine-like efficiency. It ranks as one of the best offensive seasons in NBA history and stands alone as the only season of at least 31 points and 6.0 assists with a True Shooting percentage of 66.5 or better. All while standing as the focal point of the league’s best team and doing his part in helping the Thunder lead the NBA in defensive rating for the second straight year.
Oh, and Gilgeous-Alexander also broke Wilt Chamberlain’s record for consecutive regular-season games with 20 or more points with his 127th straight on March 12, eventually extending the record to 140 and counting.
But when it comes to offensive productivity, efficiency and consistency from the guard position, Gilgeous-Alexander’s only peer may be Jordan, the Bulls great who won five MVPs and six NBA titles and is, in many minds, the best player of all-time. The Canadian national team star has averaged at least 30 points per game and shot 50 per cent from the floor over the past four seasons. The only player in the last 40 years to have a similar streak is Jordan, who did it for five straight years beginning in 1987-88 when he won three MVPs and the Bulls won three titles.
But the MVP award is merely a prequel to what lies next, beginning with the Western Conference Finals and what could be many battles with Wembanyama and the Spurs, who dominated the Thunder during the regular season, winning four of their five games as the only team to win the season series against the Thunder this year.
It’s part of the reason why Wembanyama argued back in mid-March that the MVP award should be his, in addition to his combination of nearly unprecedented defensive impact and offensive skill.
Wembanyama’s case was rock solid as he averaged 25 points, 11.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists, while leading the NBA in blocked shots with 3.1, all in just 29.2 minutes per game. One of the arguments in Gilgeous-Alexander’s favour is that he played 397 more minutes than the Spurs star, or the equivalent of about 12 more games.
But Wembanyama became the first player to win the Defensive Player of the Year award unanimously, as his combination of length – at seven-foot-four, he has a standing reach of nearly 10 feet – mobility and situational awareness have made the Spurs big man the most influential defender in the NBA.
The 23-year-old is the primary reason San Antonio finished second behind the defending champion Thunder with 62 wins in the regular season – 28 wins more than a year ago – and finished third in defensive rating.
“I think right now, there is a debate,” Wembanyama said in March when asked if he should be in the MVP award. “There should be, even though I think I should lead the race. And I’ll try to make sure that by the end of the season, there’s no debate.”
When Gilgeous-Alexander was to make his case for MVP shortly afterwards, he smiled confidently but declined: “I’m good, I let my game do the talking.”
Which is why the nascent Thunder-Spurs rivalry promises to be the focal point of the NBA for years to come.
Whichever star and whichever team advances to the NBA Finals will be the prohibitive favourite over the best team that the Eastern Conference can offer up and will only be writing the first chapter in what promises to be an epic basketball novel, featuring protagonists with their own magical powers honed with tireless drive and willfulness.
At just 28, Gilgeous-Alexander is just entering his prime, having blown away all but perhaps his own expectations as a late-blooming prospect who came off the bench early in his one season at the University of Kentucky, saw 10 players drafted ahead of him in 2018, was traded as a rookie and didn’t make an all-star game until his fifth season.
As a defending champion and two-time MVP, he stands alone at the top of the NBA for the moment.
But already, his supremacy is under threat from Wembanyama, a prodigy who turned professional as a 15-year-old and has been carefully groomed for superstardom well before emerging as a global phenomenon and becoming the unquestioned No.1 pick of the 2023 draft.
Sooner than may have been expected, Wembanyama and the Spurs are coming for the throne occupied by Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder.
Will the pride of Canadian basketball be able to hold them off? For how long?
Gilgeous-Alexander is deservingly recognized as the NBA’s best player, and the Thunder are the NBA’s best team.
It’s an exalted place. But they will have to fight hard to maintain their status. Wembanyama and the Spurs are coming for what they have.
SGA is once more the NBA’s MVP, winning the battle. Wembanyama thrust himself into the battle with an epic season of his own.
But the larger, longer fight has just begun.
The battle won, now comes the war. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the NBA’s most valuable player for 2025-26. For the second consecutive season, he’s been recognized for the league’s top individual honour. At 28 years old and in his eighth season, the Oklahoma City Thunder star from Hamilton, Ont., joined a list of 16 all-time greats to win multiple Local, Sports
The battle won, now comes the war.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the NBA’s most valuable player for 2025-26. For the second consecutive season, he’s been recognized for the league’s top individual honour. At 28 years old and in his eighth season, the Oklahoma City Thunder star from Hamilton, Ont., joined a list of 16 all-time greats to win multiple MVP awards and became just the 14th player to win the award in back-to-back seasons.
In second place? The expectation was that it would be Victor Wembanyama, the emerging superstar with the San Antonio Spurs. However when voting results were announced Sunday, Wembanyama finished third behind Nikola Jokic by a narrow margin.
Conveniently, the NBA announced the results of the award voting the night before the Spurs and Thunder – and Gilgeous-Alexander and Wembanyama – open a Western Conference Finals match-up that has seemed pre-ordained since the two clubs emerged as the best two teams in the NBA over the course of the regular season (Game 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet+).
And given the depth of the two rosters, the youthful stardom throughout their respective lineups and the quality of the organizations’ respective infrastructure, it’s easy to imagine the Thunder and Spurs having to fight for the right to advance to the NBA Finals many times in the next five-to-10 years.
It has a chance to become one of the NBA’s great rivalries and at the centre of it are sure to be Gilgeous-Alexander — the smooth, yet relentless guard who marries supreme skill with subtle athleticism and bottomless drive — and Wembanyama, a one-of-a-kind physical prospect whose combination of discipline and talent suggests that he may actually be able to harness his limitless potential, which would place him on a trajectory to join the sport’s all-time greats if it happens.
It’s a path that Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder are already on as they seek to become the first team in eight years to repeat as NBA champions, having positioned themselves to legitimately think about themselves as a budding dynasty.
Wembanyama and the Spurs will need to go through Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder to reach their goals, and the pride of Canadian basketball isn’t going to be stepping aside for anyone any time soon.
With the MVP win, Gilgeous-Alexander joins fellow Canadian basketball legend Steve Nash as the only Canadian to win multiple MVPs, a feat Nash accomplished in 2005-06 and 2006-07.
When Gilgeous-Alexander — in a rare display of the riotous river of deep confidence that flows through him — gave his “I’m the black Steve Nash” quote to GQ magazine, it was before the 2021-22 season. At the time Gilgeous-Alexander was starting his fourth season, having played just 35 games due to injury the year before. He’d never been an all-star. The Thunder had won 22 games in 2020-21 and would win just 24 in 2021-22.
But as things have played out, Gilgeous-Alexander may have been aiming low in comparing himself to the hall-of-famer Nash, his mentor and long the gold standard for Canadian basketball.
How about Michael Jordan in a headband?
Gilgeous-Alexander has finished fifth, second, first and now first again in the MVP voting, conducted by a panel of 100 media members (I am one of the voters who chose Gilgeous-Alexander this season). He won the Finals MVP when leading the Thunder to their first title and earned recognition as the league’s ‘Clutch Player of the Year’ in lifting injury-plagued OKC to a league-best 64 wins this season.
Statistically, his 2025-26 season — where Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.1 points, 6.6 assists and 1.4 steals while shooting 60.2 per cent on two-point field goals, 38.6 per cent from three and 87.9 per cent from the free throw line while committing just 2.2 turnovers per game — combined eye-popping levels of productivity with machine-like efficiency. It ranks as one of the best offensive seasons in NBA history and stands alone as the only season of at least 31 points and 6.0 assists with a True Shooting percentage of 66.5 or better. All while standing as the focal point of the league’s best team and doing his part in helping the Thunder lead the NBA in defensive rating for the second straight year.
Oh, and Gilgeous-Alexander also broke Wilt Chamberlain’s record for consecutive regular-season games with 20 or more points with his 127th straight on March 12, eventually extending the record to 140 and counting.
But when it comes to offensive productivity, efficiency and consistency from the guard position, Gilgeous-Alexander’s only peer may be Jordan, the Bulls great who won five MVPs and six NBA titles and is, in many minds, the best player of all-time. The Canadian national team star has averaged at least 30 points per game and shot 50 per cent from the floor over the past four seasons. The only player in the last 40 years to have a similar streak is Jordan, who did it for five straight years beginning in 1987-88 when he won three MVPs and the Bulls won three titles.
But the MVP award is merely a prequel to what lies next, beginning with the Western Conference Finals and what could be many battles with Wembanyama and the Spurs, who dominated the Thunder during the regular season, winning four of their five games as the only team to win the season series against the Thunder this year.
It’s part of the reason why Wembanyama argued back in mid-March that the MVP award should be his, in addition to his combination of nearly unprecedented defensive impact and offensive skill.
Wembanyama’s case was rock solid as he averaged 25 points, 11.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists, while leading the NBA in blocked shots with 3.1, all in just 29.2 minutes per game. One of the arguments in Gilgeous-Alexander’s favour is that he played 397 more minutes than the Spurs star, or the equivalent of about 12 more games.
But Wembanyama became the first player to win the Defensive Player of the Year award unanimously, as his combination of length – at seven-foot-four, he has a standing reach of nearly 10 feet – mobility and situational awareness have made the Spurs big man the most influential defender in the NBA.
The 23-year-old is the primary reason San Antonio finished second behind the defending champion Thunder with 62 wins in the regular season – 28 wins more than a year ago – and finished third in defensive rating.
“I think right now, there is a debate,” Wembanyama said in March when asked if he should be in the MVP award. “There should be, even though I think I should lead the race. And I’ll try to make sure that by the end of the season, there’s no debate.”
When Gilgeous-Alexander was to make his case for MVP shortly afterwards, he smiled confidently but declined: “I’m good, I let my game do the talking.”
Which is why the nascent Thunder-Spurs rivalry promises to be the focal point of the NBA for years to come.
Whichever star and whichever team advances to the NBA Finals will be the prohibitive favourite over the best team that the Eastern Conference can offer up and will only be writing the first chapter in what promises to be an epic basketball novel, featuring protagonists with their own magical powers honed with tireless drive and willfulness.
At just 28, Gilgeous-Alexander is just entering his prime, having blown away all but perhaps his own expectations as a late-blooming prospect who came off the bench early in his one season at the University of Kentucky, saw 10 players drafted ahead of him in 2018, was traded as a rookie and didn’t make an all-star game until his fifth season.
As a defending champion and two-time MVP, he stands alone at the top of the NBA for the moment.
But already, his supremacy is under threat from Wembanyama, a prodigy who turned professional as a 15-year-old and has been carefully groomed for superstardom well before emerging as a global phenomenon and becoming the unquestioned No.1 pick of the 2023 draft.
Sooner than may have been expected, Wembanyama and the Spurs are coming for the throne occupied by Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder.
Will the pride of Canadian basketball be able to hold them off? For how long?
Gilgeous-Alexander is deservingly recognized as the NBA’s best player, and the Thunder are the NBA’s best team.
It’s an exalted place. But they will have to fight hard to maintain their status. Wembanyama and the Spurs are coming for what they have.
SGA is once more the NBA’s MVP, winning the battle. Wembanyama thrust himself into the battle with an epic season of his own.
But the larger, longer fight has just begun.
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