Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, making it nearly a decade since a US-born athlete has won the award in the US-dominated professional basketball league.
Gilgeous-Alexander — whose Oklahoma City Thunder are vying to defend their NBA championship — won the award for a second year running, cementing foreign-born players’ dominance: The next three-highest vote-getters were Serbian, French, and Slovenian, while the Defensive Player of the Year was French.
The results come with the NBA growing its global footprint, having reportedly received multiple billion-dollar bids for franchises in a proposed European league that could open as early as next year, a far cry from the 1980s when it desperately courted international broadcasters in order to drum up interest.
