Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did more than just deliver the first NBA title to Oklahoma City on Sunday night. He etched his name in the NBA record book and joined a list that includes some of the league’s all-time greats.
Gilgeous-Alexander earned NBA Finals MVP honors following the Thunder’s 103-91 win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the finals. In doing so, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported the Thunder guard did something only 10 other players have done: win regular-season MVP and Finals MVP in the same season.
The list reads like an NBA who’s who: Michael Jordan (four times), LeBron James (twice), Larry Bird (twice), Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Magic Johnson, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Willis Reed.
Bird, as you may remember, accomplished the feat in 1984 when the Celtics beat the Lakers in an epic seven-game showdown. He repeated as league MVP and NBA champion in 1986 when Boston dismissed the Houston Rockets in six games.
But that’s not all. Gilgeous-Alexander, who averaged 32.7 points per game during the regular season, is first player in 25 year to lead the league in scoring and win an NBA championship in the same year. The last person to do it was O’Neal in 2000, according to MacMahon. The others to win the scoring title and NBA title in the same year are Jordan (six times), George Mikan (two times) Abdul-Jabbar and Joe Fulks.
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If you keep drilling down, Gilgeous-Alexander is just the fourth player in league history to win the scoring title, NBA MVP and NBA title in the same year, per MacMahon. Jordan (four times), O’Neal and Abdul-Jabbar are the other three.
Gilgeous-Alexader had trouble processing all that information after the Game 7 win. “It’s hard to believe that I’m part of that group,” he said, per MacMahon. “It’s hard to even fathom that I’m that type of basketball player sometimes.”
Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 29 points and 12 assists in Oklahoma City’s Finals-clinching win over the Pacers.