Shai Gilgeous-Alexander enters this season with a chance to become only the fourth player in NBA history to win three consecutive Most Valuable Player awards. He already has two in a row, and if he does it again, he will join Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird in a club that has stood alone for 40 years.
That is why the conversation around Shai is starting now. The Oklahoma City Thunder guard has taken more than 75% of the first-place MVP votes over the last two seasons while averaging 32 points per game, a stretch that has made his case impossible to ignore. The next step is simple to say and hard to do: keep winning enough, and keep playing at a level that leaves voters with little room to look elsewhere.
Shai said his focus has not changed. “I’ve just got to be the best player I can be for this basketball team, win as many games as possible,” he said. “That kind of recipe for me in the past has kind of worked, and I’ve been fortunate to win two in a row. No different for me going into this season.” He also said, “I feel like I’m a better basketball player, more versatile as a basketball player,” adding, “In better shape, too.”
The race is not closed, though, and that is where the intrigue lives. Victor Wembanyama was the preseason pick by NBA general managers to win the trophy next spring, which means Shai does not just have to defend a title he already owns; he has to do it against the player many executives think will take the next leap. International players have won the last eight MVP awards, so another Shai season at the top would keep that run going and push it to nine this season.
Sam Presti said last month that greats at this level have “something that separates them from the others that makes them uniquely different,” and he pointed to Shai’s “baseline stuff” of work ethic, discipline and character. Presti also said his guard’s emotional awareness is “extraordinary” and that he “doesn’t live in a pass-fail world,” which helps explain how a player drafted 11th has climbed into a historical chase now shared only with Russell, Chamberlain and Bird. The vote comes next spring, but the burden starts the moment the season starts; Shai does not need a ceremony to make the point, just another year that forces everyone else to chase him again.
