Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a two-time MVP, but what that means historically depends on what comes next

The Thunder star is already in an elite group of back-to-back MVPs, even with Victor Wembanyama breathing down his neck

Sam Quinn

May 17, 2026

8:03 pm ET

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7 min read

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There are two types of NBA MVPs, at least with the benefit of historical hindsight. There are the guys, and there are the guys between the guys. Some MVPs get trophies. Some get eras.

There's a collective agreement among most basketball observers, at least with the benefit of hindsight, that players like Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar probably should have more MVP trophies. Each had an undisputed decade-long reign as the NBA's best player. Whether it was voter fatigue or down years or narratives or baseball sabbaticals, none of them were honored to the extent that they probably should have been. They frankly didn't need to be. Their legacies were bigger than a single, contextual award.

The MVP award doesn't function the same way for all winners. For the Karl Malones, Derrick Roses and Bob McAdoos of the world, the award is a peak. It is an acknowledgment of a moment in time in which they touched immortality, even if they didn't quite grab it. When we talk about Steve Nash, the MVP awards are the first things that come up, and the second, even if it's reductive and unfair, is the notion that Nash winning those trophies at the peak of Kobe Bryant's and Tim Duncan's powers is a bit of an oddity.

When we talk about Magic Johnson, the MVPs are a footnote. There's no need to define him by a trophy because it was simply understood that the NBA, for a time, belonged to him, and the trophies are just a manifestation of what we understood implicitly. That's how MVPs tend to function in all-time conversations. They're table stakes for the sort of historical company players like this are trying to keep. You have to have them, but having them in and of itself does not punch a ticket into the pantheon.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander named MVP: Thunder star becomes just 14th player to win back-to-back awards

Sam Quinn

Nikola Jokić straddles that line. In truth, we'll probably look back on the period between 2019 and 2025 as the parity era, but Jokić was, by near total consensus, its best player. We all think we know what's coming next. If Victor Wembanyama stays healthy, it feels as though the unquestioned dominion that Jordan and James once held over the league for sustained periods is suddenly back on the table. At some point soon, Wembanyama is probably going to be the league's best player, and if he does the things we think he can once he's there, the next era of NBA history will almost certainly belong to him.

Where does that leave Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the guy who just claimed his second consecutive trophy? Well, we don't quite know yet, but we may soon.

Just having the trophies puts Gilgeous-Alexander in incredible company. He's now the 14th player to win consecutive MVPs, joining Nash, Malone, Johnson, Jordan, James, Abdul-Jabbar, Duncan, Jokić, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird, Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The numbers that generated those trophies are just as impressive. Only Curry and Antetokounmpo have ever posted higher effective field goal percentages in 30-point-per-game seasons than Gilgeous-Alexander did. Only Jordan ever won MVP at guard committing fewer turnovers per possession, and remember, he was a shooting guard while Gilgeous-Alexander is a point guard. Only one player, Luka Dončić, scored more total points than Gilgeous-Alexander this season. But 39 players touched the ball more times than he did.

There is already a real legacy here. Gilgeous-Alexander is practically breaking efficiency scales, generating a mind-boggling number of points per touch and shot while surrendering none of those points back through turnovers or poor defense. He is an absolute machine of consistency. He hasn't scored fewer than 20 points in a game for almost two full regular seasons. There was a sense of disappointment when the Thunder didn't seriously pursue the all-time wins record this season, but that undersold just how historically dominant they've been. Gilgeous-Alexander was the best player on a team that won 132 games across two seasons. Only Jordan and Curry have ever done that.

All of that is great and absolutely meaningful, but legacies are a bit like jokes. They lose impact once you have to explain them. This is part of why Nash gets so frequently reduced to the MVPs. It's simpler than explaining how someone who averaged 14.3 points per game for his career could be one of the greatest generators of team offense in MVP history. It's easier to say "he won two MVPs" than to explain how he was the point guard for the NBA's most efficient offense eight times in a 10-year span.

Of course, Nash also gets reduced to the trophies because of what he lacks. He never wo