Shai Gilgeous-Alexander joins exclusive club of NBA legends with Thunder championship
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is now in an exclusive club with 3 of the NBA’s all-time greats.
Gilgeous-Alexander, a former Kentucky Wildcat, won the scoring title and NBA MVP for the season. On Sunday, his team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, defeated the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
With a championship ring to complete the trifecta, Gilgeous-Alexander is now only the 4th player in NBA history to achieve all 3 in the same season. He joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal. Jordan accomplished the feat in 4 different years.
Since MVP began in 1955-56, only 4 players have won the scoring title, MVP and NBA title in the same season in league history:
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 23, 2025
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Shaquille O'Neal
Michael Jordan
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar pic.twitter.com/lIEfJkHvIH
On top of his other accomplishments, SGA is also the Finals MVP. He averaged 30.3 points, 5.6 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game in the Finals while shooting 44.3% from the field. Gilgeous-Alexander recorded 29 points, 12 assists and 5 rebounds in Sunday’s Game 7.
SGA IS AWARDED THE BILL RUSSELL TROPHY AS THE NBA FINALS MVP
— NBA (@NBA) June 23, 2025
4th player to win #KiaMVP, the scoring title and the Finals MVP in the same season! pic.twitter.com/JP93jzjipu
A Wildcat in 2017-18, Gilgeous-Alexander was selected No. 11 overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2018 NBA Draft. He was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers on draft night, where he played his rookie season in 2018-19. In July 2019, the Thunder acquired Gilgeous-Alexander in a trade.
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Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
