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Class of his own: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Postmedia's athlete of the year

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With apologies to Canada's other great athletes, there was one slam dunk choice for 2025.

Published Dec 26, 2025 • 5 minute read

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, centre, holds up the MVP trophy as he celebrates with his team after they won the NBA basketball championship with a Game 7 victory against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. Photo by Julio Cortez /AP

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With apologies to the many other great Canadian athletes, there could only be one choice for Postmedia’s athlete of the year for 2025. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lapped the field, turning in one of the greatest calendar years in this country’s long sporting history and simply could not be denied.

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The silky smooth Oklahoma City Thunder guard had established himself as a premier player before 2025 of course; he’d finished second in scoring and in the Most Valuable Player race the previous campaign and earned his second consecutive All-NBA first team berth (ostensibly meaning he was one of the league’s top five players). Plus he’d taken the Thunder back to the playoffs after a three-year absence, increasing their regular-season win total from 40 to 58 despite Oklahoma City having one of the youngest rosters in the league. The Toronto-born, Hamilton-raised Gilgeous-Alexander also previously led Canada back to the Olympics after nearly a quarter century absence and helped his country win a bronze medal and beat the mighty USA in the FIBA World Cup.

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But all of that was just the warmup for what was to come in 2025.

Oklahoma City was 27-5 and on a 12-game winning streak when New Year’s Day dawned. The team would extend the streak to 15, add another of 11 later and finish with 68 victories, more than all but four teams have managed over the history of the NBA.

Gilgeous-Alexander also won his first scoring title, averaging 32.7 points per game. That feat is impressive enough on its own. Now, consider that he and the Thunder were so dominant that Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t even take the court in 17 fourth quarters for the year. That he still scored nearly 33 a night speaks to his on-court mastery.

A late bloomer, Gilgeous-Alexander had still been good enough to dominate early on in high school in Hamilton before heading South to face better competition. And while he earned a scholarship to powerhouse Kentucky through constant improvement, Gilgeous-Alexander came off the bench without complaint for much of his year there before there was no way he could be held back any longer.

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Even when Gilgeous-Alexander rose to become an NBA lottery pick, Charlotte dealt him away on draft night and the Los Angeles Clippers would move him too a year later in what has become one of the worst trades in the history of sports.

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EVERYTHING CAME TOGETHER

Everything came together in 2025. The Thunder annihilated all competition in the regular season but had still not won a playoff series since 2016. Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t at his best in Round 1, but still helped the team sweep Memphis, setting up an epic matchup with Nikola Jokic, winner of three MVP awards and considered his chief competition as the best player in the world. Pushed to the limit by Jokic and the former champions, Gilgeous-Alexander consistently had the answer. With 35 efficient points in Game 7, Gilgeous-Alexander got the Thunder through and they kept rolling, dispatching Minnesota in five games.

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Gilgeous-Alexander was the unanimous choice as Western Conference Finals MVP, winning that honour just days after learning he’d beaten Jokic to earn his first NBA MVP award, with 71 first-place votes to Jokic’s 29. He joined Steve Nash as the only Canadians to win MVP and capped everything off by being named Finals MVP after leading the Thunder to its first title, a thrilling seven-game win over Indiana, as the high scorer in five of the games, including 29 with 12 assists and only a single turnover in the winner-take-all finale.

And all the while, he’s remained humble, deflecting criticism of his play style and continuously mentioning the importance of his teammates. “Without them, it’s not possible,” Gilgeous-Alexander said when accepting his MVP award.

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“He’s just having an unbelievable impact on his team, the league, and you can back that up with the eye test, but also the numbers are almost unfathomable,” said Nash on a media call after the news broke Gilgeous-Alexander had joined him on the Canadian hoops pantheon.

“He’s pushing boundaries as to what’s possible, individually and as a nation … A very, very special player, an incredible season,” Nash said.

Gilgeous-Alexander joined Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players to win the championship, MVP, Finals MVP and scoring title in the same year.

“He gets better and better,” was how Toronto Raptors scoring leader Brandon Ingram put it recently. “He puts pressure on the defence every time he comes down the floor. He has a lot of gravity (meaning opponents are drawn to him, trying to contain his offensive package). He can do a lot of stuff on the floor,” said Ingram, who knows a thing or two himself about getting buckets.

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Gilgeous-Alexander works relentlessly at his craft — “super locked in, watching film for the little details of the game” — is how fellow Canadian national team member RJ Barrett described Gilgeous-Alexander to Postmedia in the past.

“I’ve always been a basketball junkie … Always watched videos, slowed them down. I’ve always been a scientist in terms of watching basketball. I like to dissect it all,” Gilgeous-Alexander said at his media availability the day before he was drafted.

And the work shows. Gilgeous-Alexander does not appear to be slowing down either. Now 27, he’s again averaging north of 32 points a game, trailing only Luka Doncic and is second to Jokic in nearly every catch-all statistical measure, setting up what could be a third straight MVP showdown between the two. The Thunder is again leading all in wins, even though Gilgeous-Alexander’s co-star, Jalen Williams has barely played and others have been hurt. While they’ve stumbled lately, losing three games to rival San Antonio, they also managed a franchise-record 16-game winning run not too long ago and remain the favourites to become just the fifth repeat champions this century and first in nearly a decade.

[Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder drives with the ball against the Utah Jazz.

Move over Steve Nash, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is new Canadian king of court](https://torontosun.com/sports/basketball/nba/toronto-raptors/gilgeous-alexander-new-canadian-king-of-court)

2. [NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 20: NBA Draft Prospect Shai Gilgeous-Alexander speaks to the media before the 2018 NBA Draft at the Grand Hyatt New York Grand Central Terminal on June 20, 2018 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)

Gilgeous-Alexander NBA draft dream is about to come true](https://torontosun.com/sports/basketball/nba/gilgeous-alexander-nba-draft-dream-is-about-to-come-true)

If that comes to pass, Gilgeous-Alexander will likely have a case to repeat as Postmedia’s athlete of the year too, though it’s hard to imagine he’ll be able to top a remarkable 2025.