From the outscoring team to the MVP: Gilgers Alexander s Thunder Counterattack Epic

Russia City News - Eleven years ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder held its first MVP awards ceremony at their old training facility, now home to the G League team, where Kevin Durant delivered a memorable speech. Durant's basketball path is a more typical type: as an elite rookie, he was selected with the second pick, won the Rookie of the Year, quickly became a scorer who averaged 20 points per game, won the scoring champion, and finally won the MVP trophy.

On Wednesday night, the Thunder held its third MVP awards ceremony. Shea Gilgers Alexander became the third Thunder player to receive the highest personal honor in the league. The team, which moved to Oklahoma City in 2008, is now one of only five NBA teams with three different MVPs, tied with the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Houston Rockets and the Philadelphia 76ers.

"When it comes to players like Durant and Westbrook who won the award, it's hard to believe," Gilgers Alexander said. "These guys did amazing things in the game, changing the game in ways you can't predict. Even just being on par with them, it's hard to put it in words."

Nikola Jokic was drafted with the 41st pick in the second round in the 2014 NBA Draft, and he was probably the most unexpected player to win the league's MVP. But Gilgers Alexander narrowly beat Jokic, preventing the big center from winning his fourth MVP, and his path to success is also quite unusual compared to players such as Durant, Westbrook or James Harden who were selected by Thunder General Manager Sam Presti in the top four picks.

Gilgers Alexander is a good newbie and the Los Angeles Clippers selected him with the 11th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. He averaged 10.8 points per game in his rookie season and was seen as the second-best scorer and versatile defender of the future, which made it difficult for the Clippers to give up on him in the summer of 2019 deal negotiations. But no one regarded him as a future star at the time, including himself.

"I always thought I could be a very good player because I saw how hard work and controlling what I could control can bring to you," Gilgers Alexander said. "I made a huge progress, but I never thought I would be an MVP until... I think that started to say that a few years ago. I never thought it would happen."

Gilgers Alexander's first season with the Thunder was a three-back roster with Chris Paul and Dennis Schroder, and the team also had skilled but slower power forward Danilo Gallinari, so his scoring wasn't the most relevant trait of that team, they needed him to defend the line and star scorers, and he had his first two seasons shaped his character player skills.

"I dreamed of winning an MVP when I was a kid, but my childhood dream was fake," Gilgers Alexander said. "As time goes by, you realize that you are getting closer to your dream, it's hard not to panic, it's hard not to go back to the 6-year-old. I think that's what made me realize it."

After Gilgers Alexander's second season, Presty accelerated the Thunder's rebuilding pace, trading Paul, Schroeder and Gallinari and handing offense to Gilgers Alexander, providing him with a low-stress, low-risk development environment. As the team's record goes from 22 to 24 to 40, his average score increases from 23.7 to 24.5 to 31.4 in three seasons, and his game level continues to improve as his talent grows around him. By the end of the 2022-23 season, he has become one of the best scorers in the league and an undisputed central figure with an interesting young core.

"If we were in a drought period, or we were in a three-game losing streak - we had a 17-game losing streak - if you do the right thing, there will always be light at the end of the tunnel," Gilgers Alexander said. "You trust your work, stick with it, I think we are all seeing that today." In the blink of an eye, they went from a rising team to a Western Conference strong team, winning 57 and 68 games in the past two regular season seasons, Gilgers Alexander averaged 30.1 and 32.7 points per game, becoming the fifth player in NBA history to average more than 30 points and shooting 50% of the field goal percentage in three consecutive seasons. The other four are Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

When asked what reminded him of this award, Gilgers Alexander mentioned all the moments he was cut, traded, looked down upon, and ignored, and he remembered his experience of not entering the school team in high school. "But at the same time, there are all the moments that make me happy, all the things that my family comforted me, all the lessons of life," he added, "all of which made me the man and player I am today." The entire Thunder took part in the awards ceremony, with Presti, coach Mark Degno and boss Clay Bennett sitting in the front row to his right, and his family and management team sitting in the front row to his left. All of his Thunder teammates sat on the stage wearing new Rolex watches, a gift from Gilgers Alexander to them before the ceremony. He said they were on a team bus last year and when his name first appeared in the MVP discussion, backup center Jaylin Williams asked him what gift he would give to the team after winning.

"A lot of guys on the team like watches, who doesn't like watches?" Gilgers Alexander said, "but that's insignificant compared to what they mean to me. I'd rather have MVP every day than Rolex, without them I wouldn't have MVP. So, it's just a little bit of reward they deserve. ”