Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is clear-cut favorite to win NBA Finals MVP

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on the hunt for the MVP sweep.

After winning the NBA’s 2024-25 regular season MVP award and the Western Conference Finals MVP award, Gilgeous-Alexander is one NBA Finals MVP away from completing the trifecta. And he’s the clear-cut favorite to make it happen, too. According to FanDuel, SGA has the best odds (-550) to be named MVP of this year’s NBA Finals battle between his Oklahoma City Thunder and the opposing Indiana Pacers.

The next closest odds to Gilgeous-Alexander? That would be Indiana star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who is a distant second with +700 odds to win the Bill Russell Trophy. The Thunder is the obvious favorite to win the Finals, as well, with -750 odds compared to Indiana’s +530. The NBA Finals officially begin on Thursday, June 3, in OKC.

A former Kentucky star, Gilgeous-Alexander has already made plenty of history in his seventh professional season. He became the first Wildcat alum to win the league’s MVP behind a historic campaign in 2024-25 that saw him average 32.7 points, 6.4 assists, five rebounds, 1.7 steals, and one block in 34.2 minutes per outing. SGA shot 51.9 percent from he field, 37.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 89.8 percent from the free throw line.

He has the Thunder back in the Finals for the first time since 2012 as the franchise looks to win its first championship since moving from Seattle. If Gilgeous-Alexander can lead OKC to victory and win Finals MVP, he’d become the first player to win a regular season MVP and Finals MVP in the same season since LeBron James in 2013. No Canadian-born player has ever won Finals MVP, either.

Coming off a 68-win regular season with the league’s top defense, OKC has been the most dominant team in the postseason thus far. The Thunder swept the Grizzlies in round one, snuck past Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in seven games the following round, and easily dismantled the Timberwolves in five games to win the Western Conference Finals, a series in which Gilgeous-Alexander earned MVP (Magic Johnson Trophy) honors. He’s just four wins away from putting together one of the best individual seasons we’ve ever seen.

We need to throw Cason Wallace some love, too. The second-year guard has been a key piece to OKC’s playoff run as a defensive hound. While he’s highly unlikely to win NBA Finals MVP (+50,000 odds), he expects to play an important role in the Thunder’s hopeful run to a title. Through 16 games in the postseason, Wallace has averaged 5.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.3 steals in 22.6 minutes per outing.

2025 NBA Finals schedule

• Game 1: Pacers at Thunder (Thu. June 5, 8:30 ET, ABC)
• Game 2: Pacers at Thunder (Sun. June 8, 8 ET, ABC)
• Game 3: Thunder at Pacers (Wed. June 11, 8:30 ET, ABC)
• Game 4: Thunder at Pacers (Fri. June 13, 8:30 ET, ABC)
• Game 5: Pacers at Thunder (Mon. June 16, 8:30 ET, ABC)*
• Game 6: Thunder at Pacers (Thu. June 19, 8:30 ET, ABC)*
• Game 7: Pacers at Thunder (Sun, June 22, 8 ET on ABC)*
  * if necessary

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