Beloved Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander winning his second consecutive regular season MVP Award puts him closer towards reaching a unique feat. Michael Jordan and LeBron James are currently the only two players in NBA history to win back-to-back regular season MVPs and NBA Finals MVPs in the same consecutive years.
Many fans refer to a player winning both MVP Awards in the same year as a “perfect season” since it implies you were both the best player in the world all year and the main reason a team won the NBA Championship. Gilgeous-Alexander was announced today as the regular season MVP winner for the second year in a row thanks to leading his team to the top overall seed.
Names like Nikola Jokic, Cade Cunningham, and Victor Wembanyama challenged SGA at various points throughout the season in the MVP race, but he held a lead from start to finish. Oklahoma City started off red hot as the best team and ended with the best record again. Betting sites and NBA fans view the Thunder at the strong NBA Championship favorites of the remaining four teams this postseason to give him a chance at two consecutive perfect seasons.
How Michael Jordan & LeBron Accomplished This Feat
The fact that only two players of the many all-time greats have accomplished this feat shows how remarkable it is. Jordan did it with the Chicago Bulls in the 1991 and 1992 seasons during the start of his iconic run dominating the league via playoff success.
The late 1990s three-peat saw Jordan almost doing it again with three NBA Finals MVPs and two regular season MVPs from 1996 to 1998. However, Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone just edged out Jordan in a close 1997 MVP race to block MJ from having three perfect seasons in a row before retirement.
James accomplished this in 2012 and 2013 with the Miami Heat during his peak run as the most dominant force in the NBA. Surprisingly, LeBron never had another perfect since his other regular season MVPs came before this and his other Finals MVPs took place in future seasons.
Why This Is Very Important For Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Oklahoma City winning the 2025 NBA Championship and Gilgeous-Alexander getting named Finals MVP would put him on a list with the two greatest players of all time. Names like Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and others get mentioned, but most basketball historians have Jordan and LeBron as the top two in some form.
Shai gets to prove he’s a historic great and puts himself on pace to join the best to ever do it with such an accomplishment. Other active stars like Jokic, Stephen Curry, and even the young Wemby get comparisons and discussions forecasting them in future all-time NBA discussions.
Gilgeous-Alexander gets praised for being one of the best players in the league, but this feat would start the “legacy” talks. Two consecutive perfect seasons to join basketball immortality sets the stage for SGA to start getting forecasted as a top ten all-time NBA player if he keeps playing at an elite level for many more years.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Gets Closer To Historic LeBron and Michael Jordan Feat