Back-to-back NBA MVP winners: Shai-Gilgeous Alexander joins Nikola Jokic, LeBron James, more in rare company

Back-to-back NBA MVP winners: Shai-Gilgeous Alexander joins Nikola Jokic, LeBron James, more in rare company originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s last two seasons have been incredible, as he won his first MVP last year en route to his first NBA title. Now, the Oklahoma City Thunder star is looking to repeat that success.

While the Thunder prepare to play in the Western Conference Finals for the second-straight season, the NBA is set to announce Gilgeous-Alexander has won back-to-back MVP awards on Sunday night. Gilgeous-Alexander entered the announcement as one of three finalists following a year when many players fell short of eligibility.

The NBA has had a stretch of back-to-back MVPs in the last three decades, as it has happened seven times since 2000. With Gilgeous-Alexander winning another MVP, he joins an exclusive group full of the NBA’s best ever players.

Here’s what’s at stake for Gilgeous-Alexander during this MVP announcement.

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How Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won back-to-back MVPs

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a finalist for NBA MVP once again alongside Nikola Jokic and Victory Wembanyama, but the Thunder point guard was the overwhelming favorite to win the award.

Gilgeous-Alexander averaged over 30 points per game for the fourth-straight season, as his 31.1 points per game trail just Luka Doncic for the most in the league. However, even though Doncic is eligible for awards, his defensive issues and injuries put Gilgeous-Alexander ahead of him.

In many ways, Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP status is a product of leading the best team in the NBA for another year. The Thunder once again had the best record in the league, and with Gilgeous-Alexander as the team’s start player, the point guard is front and center during Oklahoma City games.

Besides the other two finalists, the player who could’ve best challenged Gilgeous-Alexander for MVP was Cade Cunningham. That was until Cunningham suffered a collapsed lung late in the year, hampering his MVP chances.

Last back-to-back NBA MVP winner

It hasn’t been long since the NBA has seen a back-to-back MVP winner, as Nikola Jokic won two-straight in 2021 and 2022. Those were Jokic’s first two MVP awards of his career, and he added a third two-years later in 2024. Meanwhile, when Joel Embiid won MVP over Jokic in 2023, Jokic was able to win his first NBA title.

Jokic’s MVP wins were a long time coming for a player who became an unlikely star in the NBA. A former second-round pick, Jokic developed with the Denver Nuggets and produced historic numbers as a center, as his MVP awards saw him average a double-double during those seasons.

These two MVP seasons cemented Jokic’s place in NBA history as one of the best players of all time. Jokic’s honors followed that of Giannis Antetokounnpo, who won back-to-back MVP awards in the 2019 and 2020 seasons himself.

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Back-to-back NBA MVP winners

The NBA has a rich history of players who have won back-to-back MVPs since the league started handing out the award. Overall, 13 players have won NBA MVP in two-straight years, including Stephen Curry, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Nikola Jokic.

This has happened 15 times total, as LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar both won back-to-back MVPs two different times and with two separate teams. Moses Malone, meanwhile is the only player to win back-to-back MVPs despite changing teams in between.

Finally, twice has a player one MVP in three-straight years, as Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird hold that distinction.

Here’s a look at every time an NBA player won two-straight MVP awards.

Years

Player

Team(s)

2021, 2022

Nikola Jokic

Denver Nuggets

2019, 2020

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Milwaukee Bucks

2015, 2016