Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made his case to be called the best player in the world by winning almost every individual accolade possible for an offensive player in a season. From All-Star to All-NBA First Team, he was selected for multiple honors in the season. Therefore, it is not surprising that some NBA legends consider him the best player in the league right now. Among them is the 76ers legend Allen Iverson.
Iverson appeared at the No Flukes Foundation Youth Camp hosted by Gilgeous-Alexander in Toronto recently, where he had a Q&A session with the kids. While addressing the importance of practicing, he dropped a major praise on the Finals MVP, who is also a native of Toronto.
“All-Star, All-NBA, Hall of Famer, Top 75 All Time, you think I didn’t practice? So, if I didn’t, if I didn’t, that’s to show you how good I was, if I didn’t practice. So obviously I did, you know what I mean? Go overblown.”
“It’s funny, people say it nowadays, but I swear you have to, you have to practice to become whatever you’re trying to become in life. You think Shai didn’t practice? To become the MVP and the best player in the world, you have to practice.”
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander beat the likes of Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo to win the regular season MVP award, despite Jokic’s historic triple-double averaging season. Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 32.7 points, 6.4 assists, and 5.0 rebounds in the regular season as he clinched the Michael Jordan regular season MVP award.
He then averaged 31.4 points, 8.2 assists, and 5.2 rebounds in the Western Conference Finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves to win the Magic Johnson Western Finals MVP Award. Subsequently, he averaged 30.3 points, 5.6 assists, and 4.6 rebounds in the NBA Finals to clinch the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award.
After winning the Finals MVP Award, Mallika Andrews of ESPN asked Gilgeous-Alexander if he believes he is the best player in the world right now. He responded in the affirmative.
He became only the fourth player after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, and Shaquille O’Neal to win the regular season MVP, scoring champion, as well as the Finals MVP in the same season. No wonder legends consider him to be the best player in the world right now.
The only player who can contend against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s case for being the best in the world is Nikola Jokic. Gilgeous-Alexander’s teammate has accepted that the Nuggets series was the toughest challenge for the Thunder in the 2024-25 Playoffs.
But considering that Jokic is already mulling over retirement and it’s not a joke like he played it off to be, then Gilgeous-Alexander may dominate the league for that race over the next few years.
