NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looking to join Hall of Fame company in 2025 Finals

NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looking to join Hall of Fame company in 2025 Finals originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has already taken home the NBA’s highest individual honor this season. Now, he’s four wins away from earning the league’s most coveted team prize.

The Thunder point guard has his team on the verge of its first championship since relocating to Oklahoma City and the franchise’s first since winning it all as the Seattle SuperSonics in 1978-79. To get there, the top-seeded Thunder will need to defeat the Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals, which begin Thursday in OKC.

Gilgeous-Alexander was named NBA MVP for the 2024-25 season after leading the league in scoring (32.7 points per game) and guiding the Thunder to an NBA-best and franchise-best 68-14 regular season record. While being named MVP is an impressive feat, it doesn’t always lead to team success.

It’s been a decade since the regular season MVP has gone on to win an NBA championship. Only a select group of all-time greats have ever pulled it off, and Gilgeous-Alexander is on the verge of stepping into that Hall of Fame company.

Here’s a look back at all the regular season MVPs who went on to win an NBA championship, as well as those who also collected NBA Finals MVP honors.

Players to win NBA Finals and be named MVP in the same season

Fourteen players in NBA history have won a championship and been named league MVP in the same season.

Bob Cousy of the Boston Celtics was the first to do it back in 1956-57. Fellow Celtics legend Bill Russell followed suit in 1960-61 and went on to do it a grand total of four times. Only Chicago Bulls icon Michael Jordan has matched Russell when it comes to such seasons.

Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors was the most recent player to pull off the feat. He has earned two regular season MVPs and four NBA championships in his storied career, but the 2014-15 season was the only one in which he double-dipped.

Here’s a full breakdown of the players to win a championship and be named regular season MVP in the same season:

• Bob Cousy (1956-57)
• Bill Russell (1960-61, 1961-62, 1962-63, 1964-65)
• Wilt Chamberlain (1966-67)
• Willis Reed (1969-70)
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1970-71, 1979-80)
• Moses Malone (1982-83)
• Larry Bird (1983-84, 1985-86)
• Magic Johnson (1986-87)
• Michael Jordan (1990-91, 1991-92, 1995-96, 1997-98)
• Hakeem Olajuwon (1993-94)
• Shaquille O’Neal (1999-00)
• Tim Duncan (2002-03)
• LeBron James (2011-12, 2012-13)
• Steph Curry (2014-15)

NBA MVPs to be named NBA Finals MVP in the same season

Of the 14 players to win a championship and be named regular season MVP in the same year, 10 of them pulled off a trifecta by earning NBA Finals MVP honors:

• Willis Reed (1969-70)
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1970-71)
• Moses Malone (1982-83)
• Larry Bird (1983-84, 1985-86)
• Magic Johnson (1986-87)
• Michael Jordan (1990-91, 1991-92, 1995-96, 1997-98)
• Hakeem Olajuwon (1993-94)
• Shaquille O’Neal (1999-00)
• Tim Duncan (2002-03)
• LeBron James (2011-12, 2012-13)

NBA Finals MVP was not created until the 1968-69 season, so Cousy, Russell and Chamberlain did not have a chance to add it to their trophy collections.

Magic Johnson was named NBA Finals MVP in 1980 after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar earned regular season MVP honors, while Andre Iguodala was named NBA Finals MVP when Curry and the Warriors won the 2015 Finals.