Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reflects on emotional rise to Thunder cornerstone and NBA MVP

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's eyes darted around at the crowd, searching for where he'd begin his speech. There was no script folded into the many pockets embroidered onto his beige button down.
Rows of white chairs faced his lectern like a ceremony meant for the White House lawn. Dozens more people were scattered around the Thunder's pair of practice courts, the backdrop for SGA's acceptance speech for being named NBA MVP.
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To his right, Oklahoma City royalty. Clay Bennett, Sam Presti, Mark Daigneault. To his left, his family and team staffers. Within arm's reach were his teammates, dressed in shirts with SGA's face and latest feat printed upon them, their wrists blinging with the watches he'd gifted them Wednesday.
Gilgeous-Alexander scanned over the faces that meant most to him. Then the words came to him. They revealed a side of him, even if briefly, never before seen to the public eye. You have to consider who this was for.
This was for his teammates, he began, who directly impacted his candidacy. A player who averaged 30 points per game for three straight seasons, and yet this was the campaign he managed to help collect 68 wins.
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Oklahoma City Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti smiles during a press conference in Oklahoma City announcing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won the 2025 NBA MVP award on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.
He picked up their dinner tabs, some perhaps as expensive as a Rolex. He stayed in the gym with them. The younger ones, like Dillon Jones, were fine lugging around Louis Vuitton bags for him. All he did was pour into Jones in return.
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They gripped his shoulders when he emotionally plopped back into his seat, embracing him as he sat down for all of 10 seconds between the point he tapped out of his speech and when he realized he had questions to answer.
'You guys are really like my brothers, and I really mean that,' Gilgeous-Alexander told them, 'and without you guys, none of this would be possible, and I want you guys to know this award is your award, too.'
This was for the organization that thought he was worth trading for. The night he first flew to OKC to complete his physicals, he got shots up. He looked around at Wilson basketballs perfectly fixed on the racks so that the logos faced him. The Gatorade, the towels, all lined like a Ritz-Carlton.
He was fascinated. SGA considers himself obsessive about the details. When he learned that level of organization wasn't from a janitor with OCD but instead a franchise with it, he knew he belonged.
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'I understand the particularness in just making sure everything is right so all you have to do is worry about putting the ball in the hoop or boxing out or rebounding or getting a stop,' Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'That's what's allowed guys to come here and grow.'
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This was for 'Shai Camp,' his crew of childhood best friends and trainers back in Hamilton who helped him work out in the summer. Peculiar — for the superstar to depend on these training methods, and for his friends to dedicate their early mornings to him — but fitting. His physical trainer, Nem Illic, grinned from the front row. His hoop trainer, Nate Mitchell, wasn't in attendance, but surely let his preaching about post-ups rest for one proud night.
This was for his brother, a shade darker than Gilgeous-Alexander but who mirrors him just the same. His father, for starting this journey. His mother, who he called crazy, though he understands her ways all these years later.
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'I love the person that she turned me and my brother into,' he said.
And then the tears flowed. Uncontrollably. He choked up at the mention of his wife, Hailey Summers, who held their son, Ares.
He's branded composure. Packaging his swag in a way the league hasn't quite seen since Allen Iverson, torching teams as a scorer, flashing his thoughts through one-liners. But in this moment, he wasn't too cool.
The nervous laughter had no power over his tears. His wide smile was a faulty mechanism. He felt joy and gratitude so strong that for the first time, his fans saw him cry. Gilgeous-Alexander wiped his face so firmly he took pores with it, leaving no tear behind.
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This was for the family that reshaped his perspective, that matured him in ways basketball couldn't.
'Sorry, I'm so dramatic,' SGA said as he tried to fit words in. 'Hailey Summers, thank you for everything you are for me, for our son Ares. You were the first person to show me what love really meant, what sacrifice really meant.
'I wouldn't be the man I am, I wouldn't be the player I am, I wouldn't be the father I am without you, so thank you for that.'
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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hugs his wife, Hailey Summers, after a press conference in Oklahoma City announcing that won the 2025 NBA MVP award on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.
He'd been asked on TNT's broadcast by Shaquille O'Neal if last year's MVP ballot stung him, a landslide of a loss to Nikola Jokic, who Gilgeous-Alexander bested with 71 first-place votes this time around. SGA cited the obvious, that it meant more people thought he was undeserving than not.
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He wasn't asked again Wednesday. And while it wasn't his sole source of fuel this past season Gilgeous-Alexander quietly stored last year's results in his mind. Why not him, he wondered.
When he heard Wednesday's news, SGA thought of each time he was turned away. Each time he was deemed undeserving.
'All the moments I got cut, traded, slighted, overlooked,' he said.
'I had nights where I thought I wasn't good at basketball, had nights where I thought I was the best player in the world before I was.'
This was for him, too. The 26-year-old franchise player, eligible for the richest deal in NBA history. Who laughs at the title of 'free throw merchant,' who smiled wide at a Denver crowd that taunted him while down in the West semifinals.
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Now, seven wins away from an NBA title, Gilgeous-Alexander is being asked what's left.
'The way I see it,' Gilgeous-Alexander said, 'everything is left. When I picked up a basketball when I was nine years old, playing AAU, I never sat there like, I want to be an All-Star, I want to be an MVP. I sat there like I want to win this tournament.'
Gilgeous-Alexander can tap his nine-year-old self on the shoulder. He can pinch the version of him that was cut from junior varsity teams. Splash cold water on the version of him that arrived at Kentucky without a promise to start. The version of him that was told he was letting his NBA youth wither in Oklahoma City.
Everything is on the table for the kid from Hamilton.
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More: Converse, OKC pay tribute to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's NBA MVP award
Joel Lorenzi covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joel? He can be reached at jlorenzi@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @joelxlorenzi. Sign up for the Thunder Sports Minute newsletter to access more NBA coverage. Support Joel's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How Shai Gilgeous-Alexander rose to Thunder cornerstone, 2025 NBA MVP

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