Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander becomes 14th player to win back-to-back NBA MVPs

He's the best player on the best team. And the voters say he's the best player in the league, too.

Again.

Hamilton, Ont., native Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA's Most Valuable Player on Sunday for the second consecutive year. He became the 18th player to win at least two MVP awards and the 14th to win them in back-to-back fashion.

"Who he is has never changed," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "I think he's touched up the edges on his game and on his leadership and on his perspective, just like anybody else that's coming of age."

The 2025-26 <a href="https://twitter.com/Kia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Kia</a> NBA MVP... Shai Gilgeous-Alexander!<br><br>Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a year of firsts.<br><br>On Sunday, he made history with a second.<br><br>After a season that saw SGA place himself among the game’s all-time greats – or, in some cases, in a tier all by himself – the Thunder… <a href="https://t.co/9ZL72uv3wf">pic.twitter.com/9ZL72uv3wf</a>

The win for Gilgeous-Alexander marks the eighth consecutive time that the NBA's MVP was born outside the U.S. The run started with Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo (born in Greece, of Nigerian descent) in 2019 and 2020, then Denver's Nikola Jokic (Serbia) in 2021 and 2022, Philadelphia's Joel Embiid (born in Cameroon but has since become a U.S. citizen) in 2023 and Jokic again in 2024.

And in 2025 and 2026, SGA is the MVP.

"Shai's so good at creating separation when he's able to play 1-on-1," Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick said. "He's just really hard to stop, for any defender."

International players finished 1-2-3 in the MVP balloting for the fifth consecutive season, with Jokic and San Antonio's star French centre