Occasionally future MVPs are traded

Who’s the next Shai?

BY HENRY ABBOTT

The leading contender for this year’s MVP award—the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander—was traded early in his career. It might have been the best trade ever. How could your team do something like that? JOSHUA GATELEY/GETTY IMAGES

When the Rockets got future-MVP James Harden from the Thunder, everyone knew he was wonderful, but everyone also assumed he was the Thunder’s third banana. The Rockets made him the center of their solar system and an MVP.

The Harden case echoes the story of two-time MVP Steve Nash. He’d been good on his first team, in Phoenix, but (this is the part your team should copy) the Mavericks were able to get him in a trade for Pat Garrity, Bubba Wells, double-umlaut Martin Müürsepp, and the pick that became Shawn Marion. Nash became an All-Star in Dallas, but (don’t copy this part) he really blossomed after re-signing as a free agent in Phoenix, where he cooked up the modern NBA offense under the same coach, Mike D’Antoni, who would later coach Harden. …