Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has had an interesting career trajectory. Once considered a throwaway piece in the trade that brought Paul George to LA, he has grown into the franchise player for OKC—and now, the league’s MVP. That rise hasn’t happened overnight; he’s been steadily building his reputation over the past three seasons.
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As Dwyane Wade pointed out on his podcast, the league has witnessed SGA’s evolution into a superstar who is now on the cusp of leading Oklahoma City to its first-ever NBA title. Every step of his journey has been closely documented.
Wade also argued that SGA deserved last year’s MVP and said it’s rare to see someone develop into a superstar, especially when they weren’t highly rated at the start of their career.
“Something we don’t get to see often is a guy building his case for MVP. Should he have won it last year? Yes, arguably, I thought he was MVP last year,” Wade said.
“Jokic can win it every year, LeBron James can win it every year, Kobe Bryant can win it every year. These players can win it every year because of their talents and stats. But you’ve watched this young man build his case year after year,” he continued.
As Wade added later, SGA’s case for MVP gets even stronger when you consider how much his team has improved around him. Last year, the Thunder were tied for the No. 1 seed, with the same number of wins as the Nuggets, but despite their dominance, they were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs. This year, they got even better.
The 68-win Thunder finished a full 16 wins ahead of the No. 2-seeded Rockets and steamrolled their way to the Finals, losing just four games along the way.
Wade believes that putting up MVP numbers is impressive in itself, but when those numbers translate into team domination, the player becomes even more special. We saw it with LeBron James in Miami, with Steph Curry during the Warriors’ dynasty, and now we’re seeing it with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
