Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made history on Sunday, but the moment almost got buried before it even arrived.
The Oklahoma City Thunder guard won his second consecutive Kia MVP award, becoming only the 16th player since the 1955-56 season to win multiple trophies. Less than a year after joining the 36 players who had ever won the award, he was back on that list again.
The league had the official reveal set for the "NBA on Prime" pregame show later that night. Then Shams Charania reported it Sunday morning, and the internet moved on before the broadcast ever started. Fans weren't happy about it and neither, it seemed, was Blake Griffin.
Griffin had the most memorable response to the leak, taking a shot at the ESPN reporter with a line that spread fast.
"What are you doing, man? It's Sunday. Go to brunch, you nerd," Griffin said.
It landed because it was funny and also kind of true. The announcement was always going to be a celebration and the early report took some air out of it.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Case for Back-to-Back MVP
Once the noise settled, the focus shifted back to what Gilgeous-Alexander actually did this season, and the numbers are hard to argue with.
He became just the 14th player in league history to win MVP in back-to-back years, joining Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Steve Nash and Tim Duncan as repeat winners this century. The statistical ground he broke this season put him in company most players never reach.
Gilgeous-Alexander is the only guard in NBA history to average over 30 points while shooting above 55 percent from the field. He also joined Michael Jordan as the only guards to average at least 30 points on 50 percent shooting across four straight seasons. Jordan did it for five consecutive years. Gilgeous-Alexander can match that next season.
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He appeared in 68 games and became the first player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1963-64 to score at least 20 points in every regular-season appearance while playing a minimum of 50 games. He finished with 43 games of 30 or more points, eight with at least 40 and one 50-point performance while averaging 31.1 points per game, second-best in the league.
Scoring wasn't the only thing he dominated. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with the most clutch points in the league and earned Kia Clutch Player of the Year honors. That's even more impressive considering he appeared in the fourth quarter just 42 times across 68 games because the Thunder were regularly up big heading into the final period.
He also posted a league-best 20.1 perimeter off-ball gravity rating. Across his last two MVP seasons, he has recorded 92 games with at least 30 points, 21 with 40 or more and five 50-point performances. The only other player to reach those numbers over consecutive MVP seasons is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1970-71 and 1971-72.
