End Of Season Thunder Awards: Most Valuable Player
Coming into the season, there were plenty of uncertainties around the roster, and there wasn’t any guaranteed production from any player on the Oklahoma City Thunder except for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He was the clear driver of the squad from day one, too.
Gilgeous-Alexander was coming off 24.5 points per game last season, and a nearly seven points per game jump wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card. If there were any doubts of his talent, he erased those.
On the season, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.4 points per game on 51 percent shooting from the field and 34.5 percent from beyond the arc. The scoring directly contributed to winning, though, as the Thunder would oftentimes find themselves in a rut offensively, and Gilgeous-Alexander would rattle off a stretch of scoring that changed the course of the several contests.
His impact went beyond scoring. The first time All-Star averaged four rebounds per game and 5.5 assists per game this season, too.
To be the most valuable player on a team, said player can’t be one-dimensional. Gilgeous-Alexander’s effort didn’t go unnoticed by fans or in the box score. He averaged 2.6 stocks (steals + blocks), having averaged 1.6 steals per game and one block per game the season before.
This season saw Gilgeous-Alexander take everything he’s learned over his career and compile it into one efficient, complete season that saw him make the All-Star game, become a finalist for the Most Improved Player award and even got him some Most Valuable Player buzz (though it was never anything more than an honorable mention).
For a while, Gilgeous-Alexander held the best odds to win the Most Improved Player award, until Lauri Markkanen swooped in and became the favorite as the season winded down.
On top of the arrival that the entire squad made, Gilgeous-Alexander stamped himself as a superstar, and could be well on his way to an All-NBA First Team appearance. This level of production tops anything we saw from any other guy on the Thunder, though there was plenty of potential across the board, giving Gilgeous-Alexander the obvious Thunder MVP award for the season.
Unless someone comes in and does some jaw-dropping things across the entire season next season, Gilgeous-Alexander will likely continue and be the team’s most valuable player as the Thunder continue building experience to eventually compete for a title.
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