Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Toronto, Ontario, has won the 2023 Lionel Conacher Award, given to the Canadian Press Athlete of the Year. He was the second basketball player to win the award, joining Steve Nash of Victoria, British Columbia, who won the honor in 2002 with the Dallas Mavericks and in 2005 and 2006 with the Phoenix Suns.
Gilgeous-Alexander also won the Northern Star Award, given to the best Canadian athlete of the year, earlier this month. In the 2022–23 season, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.4 points per game, 5.5 assists per game, 4.8 rebounds per game, 1.6 steals per game, one block per game and had one field goal attempt. Percentage of .510, a three-point percentage of . 345 and a free throw percentage of .905. During his time with the Thunder in the 2022/23 season, Gilgeous-Alexander was also a member of the All-NBA first team and finished fourth in the NBA in scoring.
In the 2023-24 season, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.1 points per game, 6.5 assists per game, 5.8 rebounds per game, an NBA-high 2.8 steals per game, field goal percentage of .543, a three-point percentage of .302 and a free throw percentage of .909. On the international stage, Gilgeous-Alexander led Canada to its first FIBA World Cup medal (a bronze medal in Asia) and helped Canada qualify for the men’s basketball tournament 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
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