OKC Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn't stressing about this year's MVP awards race. In an ironic way, that could be the first step toward him winning the illustrious honor yet again.
During Monday's media day, Gilgeous-Alexander discussed the idea of potentially winning a third-straight Michael Jordan Trophy this season, which, if accomplished, would put him in the same conversation as Bill Russell (1961-63), Wilt Chamberlain (1966-68), and Larry Bird (1984-86) as the only players to ever do so.
While Gilgeous-Alexander is certainly someone who's up for such a challenge, as he said during his presser, "the decision for MVP is like literally 82 games away," and that his focus heading into the upcoming campaign is simply to "try and be the best player I can be."
Though some may find this lack of eagerness to be the fourth-ever player to threepeat with the honor a bit uninspiring, in a way, it could very well prove to be the secret for him to achieve such a feat, as he admitted that this mentality has served as the "recipe" he's followed amid his two previous MVP-winning seasons.
With this in mind, might history be bound to repeat itself yet again?
Thunder superstar coming into 2026-27 season slightly undervalued
Despite his recent successes and individual accolades, it appears Gilgeous-Alexander is coming into the upcoming season slightly undervalued -- at least, that is, when it comes to what one would expect from a reigning two-time MVP winner.
ESPN's Summer Forecast panel had SGA placing fourth in an MVP poll behind the likes of Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic, and Luka Doncic, while more recently placing him third behind Wembanyama and Jokic in their updated NBA player rankings list for the 2026-27 campaign.
Frankly, these are merely the latest two examples of how, even with all of his dominance, the Thunder superstar is still a tad underrated.
We're talking about a 28-year-old who already has established himself as an all-time great, especially in the offensive department, where he's the only guard in league history to average 30 or more points per game in a single season while shooting 55.0 percent or better from the floor, and holds the all-time record for most consecutive games with 20 or more points scored.
On top of this, he's also a criminally underrated defender who, last year, registered an elite defensive rating of 105.2, held opponents to a mere 43.0 percent field goal percentage, and ranked second in both defensive win shares (0.179) and total deflections (199).
All things considered, to think he's seen as only fourth in the preseason MVP discussion and third in the player power rankings is a bit baffling.
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