“The nervous laughter had no power over his tears. His wide smile was a faulty mechanism. He felt joy and gratitude so strong that for the first time, his fans saw him cry,” wrote Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman when describing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s recent NBA MVP acceptance speech. The recent NBA season brought out a series of honors for the 2025 NBA champion, which in turn revealed a different side of the Oklahoma City Thunder star. Shai himself acknowledged it once by saying, “Sorry, I’m so dramatic” during his acceptance speech. When feeling that you’re on top of the world, it really can get hard to keep a lid on those emotions. Therefore, after receiving another prestigious honor, one cannot blame the 27-year-old for faltering during another important acceptance speech.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander recently took home the Award for Best Male Athlete in the 2025 ESPY Awards. During the acceptance speech, he kept making mistakes. The video of the speech put out by ESPN included a censored part in which the player said ‘Congrats’ in a manner that could be considered inappropriate for all ears. Shai then claimed that “for dreams to come true, it takes a village, and my village has nothing been short”. He broke off after that and said, “Wow, I am messing up here.” This was because the player wanted to say, “My village has been nothing short of special, uh, since the start of my journey”. On that note, he once again acknowledged his wife and family.

“Starting with my wife, my mom, my dad, my brother, Simon, EK, Nate, Nam, Vince, Sunday, Maurice, DVO, Mark. Uh, the list goes on and on. And those names probably don’t mean much to a lot of people in the world, but to me, they mean everything. Uh, and I love those guys. Love them. Love them to death,” said Shai. He also acknowledged his other family, the Oklahoma City Thunder squad, by stating, “for allowing me to be me, uh, be a basketball player and make my dreams come true. Then I want to thank my teammates. The best basketball team in the world, and they earned that. They deserve that”.

Well, who would care about a few stumbles when the ending was so great? In a way, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s speech was like season 4 of ‘The Boys’, right?

The last few months have provided the Oklahoma City Thunder star with enough accolades to create a memorable legacy. Not only did he walk off with the NBA MVP earlier this year, but he also secured the Finals MVP and the scoring title, all in the same season. Only 3 other players in NBA history (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, and Shaquille O’Neal) had achieved this feat.

The accolades don’t even count the Larry O’Brien trophy, with the OKC squad secured after defeating the Indiana Pacers in a 7-game series. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a lot to be thankful for this year, and more of such moments mean more speeches. Therefore, as true fans, we can forgive the player if he ends up faltering in one of them, can’t we?

Nervousness can make a person do unexpected things. At the same time, it can do wonders if used rightly. While nervousness caused Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to fumble with his recent speech, he wouldn’t have gotten to even give it if that feeling hadn’t helped him in the Conference Semi-Finals.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Revealed “Nervousness Motivated Me” After Game 7 Win

The 2025 NBA Finals were already set to be a historical one, given that two underdog teams had beaten all others to reach this pivotal stage. The series was made all the more interesting when it went up to Game 7, the first time it happened in a Finals since 2016. Before that, however, the OKC had also made waves after taking the 2023 champions, the Denver Nuggets, to Game 7. As the game progressed, it was apparent that there was a clear winner. The Oklahoma City Thunder secured the win with a 125-93 score, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander recording the game-high 35 points, along with 3 rebounds and 4 assists.

During the post-game Q&A sessions, Shai was asked about his performance. The player replied that “I was nervous, to be honest. Just knowing what was on the line. …To know if you don’t bring your A-game, it could all be over. But I think that nervousness motivated me.”

The player was certainly successful in at least showing that the final game of the Conference Semi-Finals was not giving him the jitters. After all, on the shooting front, he recorded 12-19 (63.2%) field goals, 3-4 (75.0%) 3-pointers, and 8-9 (88.9%) free throws. That goes on to show what one can achieve when utilizing even the worst of feelings in the right way.