Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reacts to being voted into being a starter in the 2025 NBA All-Star Game

ESPN NBA expert and former OKC Thunder center has extremely high expectations and praise for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

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If anyone is set up to match that type of run from this generation, it’s SGA. As the Thunder blasted the Cavs on Thursday night, Gilgeous-Alexander feels like he’s finally the definitive front-runner to win MVP this season. The Thunder sure feel like the definitive favorite to win the NBA championship this year, too.

In mid-December, Denver’s Nikola Jokic had a healthy lead on Gilgeous-Alexander in ESPN’s MVP straw poll, conducted several times over the course of each season by Tim Bontemps.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the top candidate for the MVP title this season. Fans are worried if he will start against the Cleveland Cavaliers

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and LeBron James were named among the starters for next month's NBA All-Star Game on Thursday (Friday in Manila).

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokić continue to set the Kia MVP pace for each other and the rest of the field.

For the West guards, the player who obtained the most votes and who will start in back-to-back All-Star games is none other than Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. S

Lakers star LeBron James and leading vote-getter Giannis Antetokounmpo highlighted the NBA All-Star starters who were unveiled Thursday night.

NBA superstars LeBron James and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander were named among the starters for next month's NBA All-Star Game. Oklahoma City star

James — a pick for 21 straight years — now has two more selections than anyone else in NBA history (Abdul-Jabbar was a 19-time pick) and is three years clear of anyone else for the longest streak of consecutive selections. Kobe Bryant was picked for 18 consecutive games, the second-longest such streak.