Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's father says it's "100 per cent surreal" watching his son being named the NBA's Most Valuable Player.
Twenty-six-year-old Gilgeous-Alexander, from Hamilton, won the award for the first time Wednesday night, the second Canadian to be so honoured, after Steve Nash did it in 2005 and 2006. It's also now seven straight years that a player born outside the U.S. won MVP, extending the longest such streak in league history.
"I can't say that I knew this was going to happen or this is what we [had] written," Vaughan Alexander told CBC News.
Alexander, who coached his son and nephew Nickeil Walker-Alexander when they were kids, said the two of them probably knew this day would come, but he did not. Walker-Alexander plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves. They are in the NBA Conference Semifinals against Gilgeous-Alexander's Oklahoma City Thunder. Cousin against cousin. The Thunder won game one, with game two of the series to be played Thursday night.
"These guys are the type of guys that dream big and they're always doing these little mini games and series against each other and they had that in their mind that, you know, 'we're going to do something one day,'" he said.
Congratulatory messages have been pouring in for Gilgeous-Alexander from his hometown and beyond. Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath was among those extending congratulations.
"From all of us in Hamilton, congratulations Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on being named NBA 2024-25 Most Valuable Player! You've done @cityofhamilton proud," Horwath wrote in a post on Instagram.
Thirteen-year-old Hamilton basketball player Mason Versace met Gilgeous-Alexander when he was 10 years old.
Versace says he's "so happy" to learn Gilgeous-Alexander has won the award
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