To be clear, Game 7 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets won’t impact the NBA MVP race. Those votes have already been cast.
But in the collective basketball fan consciousness, the race was decided once and for all on Sunday afternoon. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the MVP, no matter what that final regular season vote says.
With the Nuggets needing a massive Nikola Jokic effort to stick around in Game 7, SGA and company instead made sure that Denver pulled Jokic with more than nine minutes remaining and the game already a blowout.
The final stats for SGA were impressive as always:
- 35 points
- 4 assists
- 3 rebounds
- 2 steals
- 1 block
- 12-19 FG
- 3-4 3FG
- 8-9 FT
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Gilgeous-Alexander likely has the better supporting cast, to be sure. The Thunder’s pestering defense slowed the Nuggets down in a massive way.
But this is Shai’s year. This is his time.
It almost looked like disaster was coming. If the Thunder had gotten knocked out at this stage as the West’s clear No. 1 seed, it would’ve invited serious judgment on what this SGA-led era of Oklahoma City was really meant to be.
But Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t let that happen.
Instead, he delivered a stellar performance in the biggest game of his career.
SGA waves to the roaring OKC crowd as he checks out of the biggest game of his career ⚡ pic.twitter.com/Z940HvVmeH
— ESPN (@espn) May 18, 2025
Next up: Minnesota and Anthony Edwards in the Western Conference Finals.
The Thunder have, by far, the best regular season record remaining in the playoffs with both No. 2 seeds and the East’s No. 1 (Cleveland) all knocked out.
This is their championship to lose. It’s SGA’s championship to lose. And they look ready to go take it.
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