The Oklahoma City Thunder are officially four wins away from winning the NBA championship after handily taking care of business against the Minnesota Timberwolves, 124-94, in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, after having some efficiency troubles in the previous series against the Denver Nuggets, has made mincemeat of the Timberwolves' defense, scoring 34 points on 14-25 shooting in the closeout game, deservedly winning WCF MVP honors in the process.

But Gilgeous-Alexander isn't just an unstoppable offensive force. He is also an instrumental part of the Thunder's elite defense that forces turnovers at a historically great rate. And towards the end of the Thunder's Game 5 beatdown of the Timberwolves, the 2025 NBA MVP showed that he's one of the best two-way players in the game by breaking up a one-two play from cousin Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Anthony Edwards, converting the steal into an emphatic jam in transition.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished the WCF averaging 1.8 steals per contest, proving how disruptive he is as well on the defensive end. He has long shown excellent instinct on that end of the floor, and it's him being a stout presence defensively that made him quite the no-brainer pick for MVP in the end even if Nikola Jokic had the better statistical season by far.

It must be very validating for Gilgeous-Alexander to see all his work result in all of this success for the Thunder. Oklahoma City's growth as a team has mirrored that of his personal development as a player. The Thunder front office's faith in him, that he could be the best player on a championship team, is paying off, and now, they are closer than ever to a championship — awaiting the winner of the barnburner Eastern Conference Finals matchup between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks in what is shaping up to be an exciting NBA Finals series.

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder show how a rebuild is done

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) and forward Chet Holmgren (7) celebrate after a play against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the third quarter during game two of the western conference finals for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Paycom Center.
Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

When the Thunder officially blew it up in 2020, many expected a painful rebuilding process to ensue. Little did everyone know that they would already have a future MVP on the roster in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander instead of needing to develop one via the NBA Draft. Since then, they have hit on nearly every move — drafting Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams in 2022 were major triumphs, Cason Wallace was an excellent lottery pick, and even Josh Giddey, their 2021 lottery pick, was turned into Alex Caruso.

Of course, Luguentz Dort was also a bonafide win for the Thunder development team; turning an undrafted player into one of the most important 3-and-D cogs in the league was quite the major victory. Now, it looks like the Thunder have all the pieces needed to complete the championship puzzle.