Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was unanimously named the Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference Finals following Wednesday’s series win over Minnesota, earning all nine votes from a panel of media members (Twitter link).
Gilgeous-Alexander, who was also the NBA’s regular season MVP for 2024/25, averaged 31.4 points, 8.2 assists, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in 36.4 minutes per game across five games vs. the Timberwolves.
While his 45.7% field goal percentage and 31.8% mark on three-pointers were both well below his usual rates, the 26-year-old was the engine of Oklahoma City’s offense and was a +43 during his 182 minutes of action in the third-round series.
Jalen Williams (22.2 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 4.4 APG, 2.0 SPG, .494/.462/.833 shooting) and Chet Holmgren (18.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.6 BPG, .567/.368/.714 shooting) also had big series for the Thunder, fueling a dominant all-around performance that sends the franchise to its first NBA Finals appearance since 2012.
The conference final MVP is a relatively new award, having been introduced by the league in 2022. Stephen Curry won the inaugural award in 2022, followed by Nikola Jokic in 2023 and Luka Doncic in 2024.
The player who is named the Western Finals MVP receives the Magic Johnson trophy.
No surprise in what OKC did since most people that watch NBA knew they would bne in the finals. It will be a great series with Pacers who has the hottest team in the NBA face off. One thing is nobody mentioning is how great the Nuggets were in the playoffs and may have been the 2nd best team in the NBA.
Yup, most. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the most lol…
Yeah, but you managed to inspire brilliant posts by the rest of us.
SGA should dedicate that award to the LA Clippers fans who got screwed when the Clippers FO traded him and a bunch of picks for the super-overrated Paul George.
arc89 Indy is white hot and underrated, but OKC is a juggernaut that is gaining momentum.
OKC over Indy in 5
I got OKC in 6. OKC coach is real good at adjustments. OKC is so deep that even their bench has no drop off in play.
What an incredible powerhouse OKC is. We don’t have to wait till next year when they’re seasoned and experienced and ready. They’re ready right now.
The beautiful thing to see is that they play together, they’re sold out on each other, and they cover for each other on defense. No one is left hung out to dry.
The thunder have the right combination of superior athletes and wings, and a couple of grunts who do the dirty work unselfishly. I love Dort and what a great addition Caruso has been.
Equally impressive is the IHart acquisition. He doesn’t need the ball plays good defense, allows Chet to play on the perimeter more often, he’s just a perfect guy for them to acquire.
Gary, you nailed it, wish I could have said it so well.
Best team, youngest team, best coached team, most unselfish team.
Next: ~20 extra draft picks over the next 6 years. Many are from trade swaps with teams that should suck, so likely some lottery picks.
A good time for the rest of West to take a few years off?
OKC should dominate the next 2 years before the cap effects them big time. The reason the cap is so strong now is because of teh GSW rule to break up dominating teams. Holgren and Williams will be up for big pay days then the following year SGA and Dort. Of course injuries can change everything.
arc89 , Not 2 years, at least 6 years. But, more likely, it’s 8 years because of the historically unprecendented amount of draft picks and swaps they have between now and 2031. Even without SGA, no NBA team has ever had as bright a long-term future.
Yes, I’m arguing that, barring injury, OKC is the prohibitive favorite to win the West for the next 6 years, and probably without the need to pay luxury tax.
OKC will have no problem staying under the cap and retaining SGA, JWilliams, and Holmgren for the next 6, even with SGA signing the max and JWilliams and Holmgren getting the expected top-end 5 year rookie extensions. The reason is that rookie extensions pay so much less than the max deals Holmgren and Williams would be due if they’d been in the league longer.
But, as you suggest, OKC won’t be able to retain the “middle” tier of their rotation (assuming they sign at market value) in 2026-27 i.e., Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe, Cason Wallace, Kenrich Williams, etc,
But OKC will have a steady pipeline of 1st and 2nd round picks (about THREE TIMES more than other NBA teams) on cheap rookie-scale contracts to take over.
None of their future 1st round picks will be in lottery so most likely used to pick up a player or draft somebody for the bench. What will get tough is Houston and Spurs should have good young teams too moving up in the west. You would think Utah in that list but so far their drafting and players is just a meh team. West looks tough for a long time. You never kniow about injuries.
Jalen was the MVP. His defense created 10 pts per game where SGA was a liability on defense. SGA wasn’t the reason they won, let alone the MVP. Looks like a double steal for Skims boy.
I’d vote for Holmgren for MVP. He’s a coming superstar! Yep, OKC has it all but being an East TV watcher Indiana plays as a team too so who knows.
I been saying it all year long, Oklahoma City Thunder won 68 games for a reason but I never seen a 68 win team get such disrespect. First it was “no experience”, then it was “not tested”, then it was “complacent”. They went out and beat every challenge in front of them. Best team in basketball since 2016-17 Golden State Warriors.
Scariest part is they have Miami’s 15th pick in the draft too, so they can get a shooter or another athletic wing or a BIG who fits their scheme.
This era of Thunder basketball is just getting started too. Yikes.
You don’t win 68 games by luck, or have the best point differential in NBA history based on luck.
18.25 average margin of victory in Western Conference, and 10.81 in the entire playoffs.
> Best team in basketball since 2016-17 Golden State
> Warriors.
Very reminiscent of the Warriors of that era in being so young as a group, in having a young MVP on the rise, and with such an unselfish culture.
The difference: this team has ~20 extra draft picks in the next 6 years, so they will continue to be deep. The Warriors were extremely top-heavy, especially in the KD years.
Scary thought: OKC could dominate for 10 more years.
The key is them continuing to build the depth on the bench.
Payroll goes from $167M to $173M next year, so not a substantial increase.
2027-28 salary cap ramifications:
Isaiah Hartenstein- $28.5M (team option, certainly to be declined, if they draft a BIG at 15 or 24 or possibly even next year).
Luguentz Dort – $18.2M (team option, certainly to be accepted), they could draft a wing defender this year or next and have him learn from Dort. I do see him taking a hometown discount and take less to keep the core and compete for titles.
Jalen Williams – $9M QFA, which most likely be extended into a max using Isaiah Hartenstein’s $30M.
Chet Holmgren – $17.9M QFA, same here as Jalen Williams.
They have Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso and Aaron Wiggins all extended thru 2028/29. We haven’t even seen Nikola Topic who they took 12th last year and the future PG of this team in the playoffs yet. He’s on the books for another 4-5 years as well.
Final conclusion: They have 12 guys that will be back next year and 2026/27, combine that with the surplus of draft picks they possess in future years, I think they are setup for a historic run. It also depends on ego’s and salaries like most teams, but I feel like this team is on the fingerprint of being so dominant and dynasty-ic (I created this word), and it’s not sugarcoating it. It should be fun since the last small market team that came out of nowhere and became a dynasty were the Tim Duncan led San Antonio Spurs.
raz –
Financially, I believe OKC has a viable plan as a non-lottery team for retaining 3 superstars and using draft picks for the middle and end of their rotation.
As in the NFL, it requires ruthless discipline in cycling in and out the middle of the roster. Some of Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins, Isiah Joe, and Kenrich Williams will eventually leave for higher pay. But for every departure there will be 3 draft picks on rookie scale contract waiting in the wings.
I see Wallace/Wiggins/Joe leaving after the 2027/28 season. Wallace might have RFA deal too since he’s so young. I agree with Kenrich Williams likely being out and so is the other Jaylin Williams (big man).
Agreed.
BTW, it’s fascinating to look at Presti’s offseason activity over the last 5 years. He loves to trade 2nd round picks and rights to G-Leaguers.
I hate that saying “they’re playing checkers, he’s playing 3D chess”, but it really does apply here. While the rest of the league fills roster spots 10-15 with whatever scraps are available, OKC is running the game on them.
They knew to dump dead weight and let Billy Donovan go.
Lmao and my team decided to extend him mysteriously but won’t disclose the terms or financial compensation. Lmao all I can do is laugh bc I am stuck in perpetual hell.
Oh well, at least June 14th is coming up and my annual anniversary of watching Game 6 from 1998 Finals is loading.
Oklahoma vs Indiana, the series no one will watch.
I wouldn’t of watched SGA v Brunson to be fair. Watching those two try getting to the line more than the other would of been absolutely painful.
Not expecting a competitive series. OKC won both games in regular season. Chet missed both games, Caruso missed 1. Okc had a 20pt win, Pacers had their guys in both match ups. Sweep or in 5.
Pacers are not the same team they were earlier in the season. If a team gets hot during the playoff it changes everything. Should be high scoring games.
The 20pt loss was on 3/29…that is right before playoffs started and Indy was a hot team.
They also haven’t even played against Chet. Every team they have played has had small guards Dame, Garland, Mitchell, Brunson.
So you are saying its going to be a easy sweep since it was a regular season game. So if Curry didn’t get hurt and 3 other warrior players were not injured in round 2 the warriors would have beat OKC since they won the series against OKC. Was not happening because regular season means nothing in the playoffs. Playoffs is a chess match and teams adjust but go ahead and think regulatr season means something.
I don’t think we are going to get a lot of thrilling tight games. Whether you want to take that to mean easy then go ahead. The series is more likely to be like the Minnesota one than the Nuggets. Regular season provides tape and physical experience of matching up with a player.
SGA was drafted and traded by Hornets. To Clippers in 2018 for Miles Bridges and two 2nd rd picks……
Then after signing Kawhi ——- Clippers did this ..
Clippers traded: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, three first-round picks (2022, 2024, and 2026), two first-round picks via Miami (2021 and 2023), and the right to swap first-round picks in 2023 and 2025. ……..
And today at 26 yrs old —- SGA did this ——
SGA the NBA 2024-25 MVP ……
The west finals MVP
Now going to his and OKCs first NBA Finals …
This is what it looks like when you develop and wait on a player to grow up. Have to admit OKC did good.
The Clippers trade shows why you should never go all in on one star. 5 years later your team is on the downswing why the other team is stacked.
Gary, you nailed it, wish I could have said it so well.
Best team, youngest team, best coached team, most unselfish team.
Next: ~20 extra draft picks over the next 6 years. Many are from trade swaps with teams that should suck, so likely some lottery picks.
A good time for the rest of West to take a few years off?
I really like their head coach. Mark Daigneault should get more credit than most guys in his situation. He’s been there for 5 years and came up with the entire team from being one of the worst to the best team in NBA. Sky is the limit for this team and it’s organization.
Oh great more cringe commercials in the future lol. There should celebrity death match the nova boys vs the a(wkward)t&t boys…make it happen silver
OKC for the chip…
Do I really want OKC to win this year after stealing IHART!!! Who’s still dead to me