Gilgeous-Alexander has now joined an elite group after accomplishing something that hasn’t happened in over a decade.
Gilgeous-Alexander completed the modern NBA trifecta by being named the regular season MVP and then lifting both the Larry O’Brien and the Bill Russell trophies at the end of the postseason. He became the first player to win the NBA MVP, the championship and the Finals MVP in the same season since LeBron James did it in back-to-back seasons, the last of which came following the 2012-13 campaign.
While several superstars have come close since James, and some even own both trophies on their overall resume, no one else has been able to claim both honors in the same season over the past 12 years.
When Stephen Curry won his first MVP in 2015, he also led the Warriors to what would become his first of his four championships. However, it was his teammate Andre Iguodala who was named the Finals MVP. He was MVP again a year later, but the Warriors squandered a 3-1 series lead and lost the Finals as James and the Cavaliers finished off a historic comeback
Kevin Durant was the Finals MVP in both 2017 and 2018 when Golden State won back-to-back championships. And when Curry finally won that elusive Finals MVP in 2022, he did it to cap off a season in which Nikola Jokic was MVP.
Speaking of Jokic, he’s a three-time NBA MVP, but in ironic fashion, finished as the runner-up to Joel Embiid in the year he would go on and lead the Nuggets to their first championship as the Finals MVP.
But the current moment is about Gilgeous-Alexander. And since the merger, only the 10 names made the list prior to Gilgeous-Alexander.
Those legends are Michael Jordan, who did it four times, James’ with the two most recent such seasons prior to this year, Larry Bird with a pair of his own and then singular occurrences by Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Magic Johnson, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Willis Reed, the first to do it in 1969-70.
Making sure he left the postseason with every piece of hardware possible, Gilgeous-Alexander was also the Western Conference Finals MVP when defeating the Timberwolves to get to the Finals. He was even the season’s individual scoring champion.
And to put his playoff run in perspective, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.3 points, 5.6 assists and 4.6 boards throughout the entire postseason.
As impossible a task as it may be, it’s now up to Gilgeous-Alexander to go for the encore next season. Either way, the 26-year-old three-time All-Star is already on a Hall of Fame trajectory with a legendary legacy.
