Bill Russell. Wilt Chamberlain. Larry Bird.
That’s the full list of those who managed to win three consecutive NBA Most Valuable Player awards. Nobody has pulled off that feat in 40 years, and the star power not on that list — names such as Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — speaks to how difficult it is to accomplish.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder has a chance to get there this season, whether he wants to or not. His focus — as it has been in past years as well — is on winning and on championships, not on anything of the individual variety.
“I’ve just got to be the best player I can be for this basketball team, win as many games as possible,” Gilgeous-Alexander 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 is the best player on the team that is essentially the co-favorite, along with the San Antonio Spurs, to win the NBA championship. He has collected more than 75% of the first-place MVP votes over the last two seasons, and his scoring average of 32 points per game is tops in the NBA over that span.
He doesn’t think he has been at his peak yet either.
“I feel like I’m a better basketball player, more versatile as a basketball player,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “In better shape too.”
The Thunder open the season against the Spurs at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in San Antonio, the last of three games on NBA opening day. The Boston Celtics take on the Pistons at 2 p.m. in Detroit, followed by LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers playing the defending champion New York Knicks at 6 p.m. at Madison Square Garden. All three games will air on NBC-5.
Thunder general manager Sam Presti has been around Hall of Fame players. He sees the traits in Gilgeous-Alexander, saying in his preseason news conference last month that greats at that level have “something that separates them from the others that makes them uniquely different.”
“He has the baseline stuff of his work ethic, his discipline, his character, things that you have to have to be a consistent elite performer in the NBA or anywhere,” Presti said. “But his emotional awareness and regulation is superior, in my opinion. It’s extraordinary. His view is layered. He doesn’t live in a pass-fail world, and that’s part of what’s allowed him to come kind of from the back of the pack as a lightly recruited college player to this ascent.”
The game has changed, and Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the players who has changed it.
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International players have won the last eight MVP awards; if the annual polling of the league’s general managers proves accurate, that run will go to nine this season — since the Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama is their preseason pick to emerge as the trophy winner next spring.
And with Joel Embiid — the No. 3 pick in 2014 and MVP in 2022-23 — being the exception, many of those eventual international-born MVPs weren’t exactly expected by many to reach that level when they entered the league. Giannis Antetokounmpo, then of the Milwaukee Bucks and now of the Miami Heat, was the 15th pick in the 2013 draft; he won two MVPs in this international run. The Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic was drafted No. 41; he’s a three-time MVP. Gilgeous-Alexander was drafted 11th; he has gone back-to-back.
“He’s still going,” Presti said. “He’s got a lot more levels to go, and his mindset, I think, is the No. 1 thing that drives all that.”
Winning brings individual success as well, and Gilgeous-Alexander knows that. But he often reminds people that things such as MVP seasons come because so many people — not just the actual trophy winner — did their part.
If the Thunder are contenders again, he’ll likely be a top candidate. The best player on the best teams tends to be right in the MVP mix. And if he wins it again, it’ll be costly: Gilgeous-Alexander has showered teammates with thank-you gifts after his first two MVP seasons, including fancy watches, Burberry coats and much more.
Leadership, to Gilgeous-Alexander, is far more important than trophies.
“It’s something that I’ve been intentional with, but also just I think naturally it’s just grown because I’ve grown as a man,” he said. “Becoming a father has helped with that. You’re an example for somebody every day and it’s a little bit different in the real world, but it’s essentially the same thing. You lead by example — and it’s hard to get people to follow you if you don’t do the right things and you don’t walk the walk.”