Scheduled
Boston Celtics at Detroit Pistons
2026-27 · Regular season
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s run at a third straight MVP, step by step
Only Russell, Chamberlain and Bird have won three straight MVPs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's case, from four 30-point seasons to the league's best plus-minus, in six interactive steps.
In this article
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander opens the 2026-27 season on Tuesday with a chance at something only three players have ever done: win the MVP three years in a row. Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird are the full list, and Bird was the last to do it, in 1986.
The Oklahoma City Thunder guard won the award for 2024-25 and again for 2025-26. His numbers last season barely moved off the standard he set during the title year. He averaged 31.1 points across 68 games, shot 55.3 percent from the field and finished with the best plus-minus per game of any player who appeared in at least 40 games.
He also has company in the race. Luka Dončić won the scoring title, Nikola Jokić stayed close to a triple-double average and Victor Wembanyama sat right behind him in on-court impact. Two of those three meet the Thunder in the first week.
Scroll through the case step by step below: the history, four straight 30-point seasons, the efficiency jump, the plus-minus edge, the rivals and the first week of the season.
What comes next
The Thunder open at the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday, October 20, at 9:30 p.m. ET, then host the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, October 22. Follow the opener in the Game Center.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at Washington, January 2022. Photo: All-Pro Reels · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized.WhyNBA Interactive
Shai’s run at a third straight MVP
Only Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird have won three in a row. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander starts that chase Tuesday in San Antonio. Here is the case he has already built, number by number.
Thunder vs. Heat at Paycom Center, March 2024. Photo: HutchDoesStuff / Wikimedia Commons · CC0. Cropped.Step 1
A club of three
Gilgeous-Alexander won the MVP for 2024-25 and again for 2025-26. One more and he joins Russell, Chamberlain and Bird as the only players to win it three seasons running.
He is 28, in his ninth NBA season and his eighth in Oklahoma City, where he arrived from the Clippers in 2019 after going 11th overall in the 2018 draft.
3players with three straight MVPs
2MVPs in a row so far
28his age on opening night
Step 2
Four straight 30-point seasons
The scoring has not dipped since the 2022-23 breakout. He has averaged at least 30 points in each of the last four seasons, topping out at 32.7 in the 2024-25 title year.
Last season he scored 31.1 a game in 68 appearances, second in the league only to Luka Dončić.
Points per game, by season
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at Washington, January 2022. Photo: All-Pro Reels · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized.Step 3
Efficiency that keeps rising
What changed in 2025-26 was the shot quality. He made 55.3 percent of his field goals, up from 51.9 the season before, along with 38.6 percent from three and 87.9 percent at the line.
He went to the line 614 times and made 540, and finished with a 66.5 true shooting percentage on a usage rate near 34 percent.
2025-26 shooting
540free throws made
30.6player efficiency rating
2,117total points
Step 4
The league’s best plus-minus
Oklahoma City outscored opponents by 788 points with him on the floor last season, an average of plus-11.6 a game. No player with at least 40 appearances was higher.
The next name on that list is the man he faces on Tuesday: Victor Wembanyama.
Plus-minus per game, 2025-26 (40+ games)
Victor Wembanyama at the NBA Cup, December 2025. Photo: Daiei Onoguchi · CC BY 4.0. Cropped and resized.Step 5
Who stands in the way
Dončić won the scoring race at 33.5 points a game for the Lakers. Nikola Jokić averaged 27.7 points and 10.7 assists for Denver. Wembanyama finished right behind him in plus-minus.
Two of those rivals arrive in the first week: Wembanyama on Tuesday and Jokić on Thursday.
Points per game, 2025-26 leaders
Thunder vs. Heat at Paycom Center, March 2024. Photo: HutchDoesStuff / Wikimedia Commons · CC0. Cropped.Step 6
October, then the real count
He kept his preseason short: 17 points against Milwaukee, 15 against Indiana and 17 against Houston, never more than about 26 minutes a night.
The counting starts for real on Tuesday at Frost Bank Center, with Chet Holmgren uncertain after missing the whole preseason.
Preseason points
- At San Antonio, 9:30 p.m. ET
- Home opener against Denver
- Votes for the 2026-27 MVP
Two MVPs, four straight 30-point seasons and the league’s best on-court margin make Gilgeous-Alexander the clear starting point in any MVP conversation. History says the third is the hardest: only three players have managed it, and none since Bird in 1986. His chase begins in San Antonio on Tuesday night.
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