Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the best basketball player on the planet, and 2024-25 was not merely a great season — it was the kind of season that gets carved into the Mount Rushmore of individual NBA campaigns. Born on July 12, 1998, in Toronto, Canada, SGA developed quietly in Oklahoma City while the rest of the league was focused on shinier objects, and then he detonated: MVP, scoring champion, Finals MVP, NBA champion. The patient rebuild in OKC was vindicated. The doubters were silenced. And the NBA found its new king.

In 2024-25, Gilgeous-Alexander led the league in scoring at 32.7 points per game while averaging 6.4 assists and 5.0 rebounds across 76 games. His Thunder posted a historically dominant 68-14 record, outscoring opponents by 12.9 points per game — the largest margin in NBA history. He then navigated a seven-game Finals against Indiana, averaging 30.3 points in the championship series with the kind of cold-blooded composure that separates the very good from the transcendent. The first player since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000 to win the regular season MVP, scoring title, and Finals MVP in the same season. That is the company he is keeping.

SGA’s game is deceptively devastating — the mid-range is silky, the finishing at the rim is elite, and his improving three-point shooting has removed the last defensive refuge opponents had. He does not play with the raw explosive athleticism of an Edwards or the overwhelming physicality of a Giannis; he plays with a serpentine fluidity that makes defenders commit to the wrong thing at the wrong time, every time. For Australian fans watching via ESPN and Kayo Sports, SGA is the reason to follow the Thunder. He is also the reason every other team in the NBA is trying to figure out how to stop him.

Career Statistics

Player Profile

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander plays guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder and is the best basketball player in the world. That is not opinion — it is the verdict rendered by an MVP trophy, a Finals MVP trophy, a scoring title, and a championship ring all earned in the same season. His 32.7 points per game in 2024-25 alongside a historic 68-14 team record represents the kind of individual-collective dominance that the sport produces perhaps once a decade. SGA is 26 years old. The dynasty is just beginning.

VS — Chief sports columnist, australiafootball.com