Shai wins NBA MVP: Who was the last American to win the award?

After months of debate and speculation, it was announced Wednesday that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has won the MVP award for his outstanding performances with the Oklahoma City Thunder during the 2024-25 NBA season. The Canadian guard’s success continued the trend of non-American players claiming the award—a pattern that has become firmly established in recent years.

Shai received the seventh consecutive MVP awarded to a foreign-born player, following Nikola Jokic (who won it three times), Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo (who won it twice). To find the last American-born player to win the MVP, you have to go back to the 2017-18 season, when James Harden was honored for his performances with the Houston Rockets.

That year, Harden led the league in points per game with an impressive 30.4 average, starting a three-season run as the NBA’s scoring champion. The guard also contributed 8.8 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game. However, he was unable to take the Rockets beyond the Conference Finals, where they lost in Game 7 to the Golden State Warriors.

International players dominating the NBA

Starting the season after James Harden’s MVP, international players began a dominant run in the NBA. In the 2018-19 season, Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo won the MVP, despite not leading the league in points, rebounds, or assists—only in player efficiency rating. The Greek power forward repeated the feat the following year.

In 2021, Nikola Jokic broke through. The Serbian center, already established as the undisputed leader of the Denver Nuggets, earned the MVP thanks to his remarkable versatility, commanding the court in ways few players of his generation have matched and redefining what a center can do.

Jokic also won the award in 2022 and 2024, curiously missing out in the 2022-23 season—the same year the Nuggets won their first (and so far only) NBA title. That season, it was Cameroon’s Joel Embiid who earned MVP honors, having led the league in scoring for two straight years and serving as the centerpiece of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Which international players have won NBA MVP?

Before the recent streak that included awards for Antetokounmpo, Jokic, Embiid, and Gilgeous-Alexander, only three international players had ever won the league MVP. The first to break nearly four decades of American dominance was Hakeem Olajuwon, who captured the honor in 1994 while leading the Houston Rockets to the first of their two championships.

After the Nigerian center, more than a decade passed before Canada’s Steve Nash won back-to-back MVPs in 2005 and 2006 as a member of the Phoenix Suns. The following year, Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki took home the award in recognition of his standout season with the Dallas Mavericks.