Showing up to Las Vegas in the middle of a miniature two-game homestand, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had to fly out to get another award added to his stuffed trophy case. He was named Sports Illustrated’s 2025 Sportsperson of the Year.
Add that accolade to Gilgeous-Alexander’s growing Hall-of-Fame career. He checked off about every bucket list item an NBA player of his caliber could dream of last year — MVP, a championship ring, NBA Finals MVP, scoring title.
Nobody else in the NBA had a better individual season. And now, nobody else in the sports world had a better individual calendar year. Gilgeous-Alexander gave quite the acceptance speech that made the rounds on social media.
He revealed quite a powerful anecdote about his relationship with Sam Presti. Of course, those two have been tied at the hip since Gilgeous-Alexander was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2019. His meteoric rise to NBA superstardom is the whole reason why the Thunder brought home one Larry O’Brien trophy and could get more.
When Gilgeous-Alexander first arrived, Presti told him about the infamous ‘Tortoise and the Hare’ fable. It’s one everybody has heard of by the time they reach middle school. As a reminder, the tortoise beat the hare in a footrace because of constant persistence and putting in the work.
The ‘slow and steady wins the race’ saying comes from that age-old fable. The lesson being is that if you want long-term success, putting in the quiet work is a better recipe instead of just being all flash. Gilgeous-Alexander said Presti gifted him a tortoise-shaped trophy after the Thunder won an NBA championship. As a reminder of their early talks.
After Gilgeous-Alexander dropped an efficient 46 points in his Superman effort to drag the Thunder to a much-needed 129-125 OT win over the Utah Jazz, he recalled his trip to Las Vegas for the sports award ceremony.
“It was good. It was fun. It was a pretty quick trip. I was in and out. It was great. It was fun to be in a room with so many influential, great, inspiring people,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Michael Phelps’ speech really stood out to me. He was impressive. It was fun. It was an honor, obviously. That award is not taken lightly. I usually don’t travel between games, but it was definitely worth it.”
After last season, Gilgeous-Alexander’s only rivals are the all-time greats. He hopes to join the NBA pantheons of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. A second MVP trophy would certainly fill out his resume. As long as he’s on the Thunder, they’ll remain in the title conversation for the foreseeable future.
And at this point, he likely needs to ship in a second trophy case — if he hasn’t already.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reflects on winning SI’s 2025 Sportsperson of the Year award
