Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named NBA MVP on Sunday over fellow finalists Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokić.
The MVP win marked the second consecutive for Gilgeous-Alexander, whose Oklahoma City Thunder will square off in the Western Conference finals against Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs starting Monday.
International dominance for NBA MVP continues
The win continues an eight-season MVP drought for American-born players dating back to 2018. Gilgeous-Alexander (two MVPS), Jokić (three), Joel Embiid (one) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (two) have combined to win each of the eight MVPs since.
James Harden was the last U.S.-born player to win MVP when he secured the 2018 hardware as a member of the Houston Rockets. Judging by this season’s voting, there’s a strong chance that drought extends to next season and beyond.
All three finalists for the award are international players. Gilgeous-Alexander is Canadian, Wembanayma is French and Jokić hails from Serbia. Slovenian star Luka Dončić finished fourth in voting. All four players are in various stages of their primes and project to factor heavily into the MVP race next season and beyond.
The trend of international players dominating the MVP race is stark and without precedence. Prior to Antetokounmpo’s MVP win in 2019, U.S.-born players Harden, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Derrick Rose and Kobe Bryant combined to win 11 consecutive MVPs a streak dating back to 2008.
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Prior to that, Dirk Nowitzki (Germany, 2007) and Steve Nash (Canada, 2005 and 2006) combined to win three consecutive MVPs. But the streak was considerably shorter, and American-born players weren’t an afterthought in the MVP conversation like they have have been in recent seasons.
Who will be the next American-born NBA MVP?
Jaylen Brown and Cade Cunningham were the top two-U.S. vote getters. They produced two combined first-place votes, two second-place votes and five third-place votes on this season’s ballot.
Either would need to take a significant leap to join the MVP conversation, and Brown’s Boston Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum is a likelier candidate to compete for the award when healthy.
Newly crowned Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg projects to factor into MVP conversations in the future. An upcoming NBA Draft class featuring several U.S. players at the top in AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson could produce one or more MVP candidates down the line.
But for now, until and unless a U.S.-born player makes a significant leap, the MVP race could feature international-born players at the top for the foreseeable future.
