How OKC Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can make Kentucky basketball history in MVP race
Kentucky has produced 132 NBA/ABA players, according to Basketball Reference.
That’s more than Kansas. More than North Carolina and Duke. More than UCLA. More than any other school in the country.
On opening night of the 2023-24 season, 26 former Wildcats were on an NBA roster. Again, no school had more.
But never has a Kentucky player (or a Duke player) gone on to win the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award.
That could change this season with Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the seventh-ranked player in his own Kentucky recruiting class. Seventh!
Fellow Kentucky signees Hamidou Diallo, Kevin Knox, Jarred Vanderbilt, PJ Washington, Nick Richards and Quade Green all had a higher prospect rating in that 2017 class, according to the 247Sports composite.
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Gilgeous-Alexander, despite coming off the bench in 13 of his 37 games, averaged 14.4 points, 5.1 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game for the 2017-18 Wildcats, who were bounced by Kansas State in the Sweet 16.
Gilgeous-Alexander went one-and-done at Kentucky and was selected with the 11th pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. Traded to the Clippers on draft night, traded to the Thunder after his rookie season and you know the rest.
Last season he finished fifth in MVP voting. Gilgeous-Alexander could win it this season, joining past Thunder winners Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. It’s basically a two-man race between SGA and Denver’s Nikola Jokic.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s case is simple: He’s averaging 31.2 points, 6.5 assists, 5.6 rebounds and a league-leading 2.1 steals per game for a Thunder team that might finish best in the West.
Monday night in Los Angeles, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder faced Anthony Davis and the Lakers. Davis, coincidentally, has the highest MVP finish of any Kentucky player past or present. Davis was third in the MVP vote as a Pelican in 2017-18.
If Gilgeous-Alexander doesn’t win the MVP this season, he’s a virtual lock to be Kentucky’s highest-ever finisher for basketball’s most prestigious individual honor.
Not bad for the seventh-ranked player in his own class.
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Kentucky players who received MVP votes
Cliff Hagan, St. Louis Hawks: 1957-58 (11th place), 1958-59 (9th place), 1959-60 (14th place), 1960-61 (14th place)
Dan Issel, Denver Nuggets: 1981-82 (T17th place)
Antoine Walker, Boston Celtics: 1997-98 (12th place)
Jamal Mashburn, New Orleans Hornets: 2002-03 (T11th place)
Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics: 2010-11 (T10th place), 2011-12 (8th place)
Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans/Los Angeles Lakers: 2014-15 (5th place), 2016-17 (T9th place), 2017-18 (3rd place), 2019-20 (6th place)
John Wall, Washington Wizards: 2016-17 (T7th place)
Julius Randle, New York Knicks: 2020-21 (8th place)
Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns: 2021-22 (4th place)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder: 2022-23 (5th place)
De’Aaron Fox, Sacramento Kings: 2022-23 (11th place)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can make UK history in MVP race
