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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the NBA in scoring last season and went on to win league MVP and Finals MVP awards, was named Canadian Athlete of the Year on Tuesday.
A panel of sports media gathered in Toronto and chose the Hamilton native over the Olympic swimmer and athlete. 2024 recipient Summer McIntosh, curler Rachel Homan, women's rugby player of the year Sophie de Goede and world hammer throw champion Camryn Rogers. Eighteen athletes were nominated.
Gilgeous-Alexander also won the Northern Star Award (formerly the Lou Marsh Trophy) in 2023. after leading the Canadian men's team to a historic bronze medal at the FIBA Basketball World Cup and its first trip to the Olympics in 23 years.
The 27-year-old became the 10th multiple winner, with only NHL great Wayne Gretzky and legendary figure skater Barbara Ann Scott winning more than twice.
In May, Gilgeous-Alexander came second The Canadian will be named NBA Most Valuable Player after Steve Nash was named in 2005 and 2006.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 32.7 points, 6.4 assists and five rebounds per game last regular season, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 68-14 record. and the second title in franchise history. He also became the first guard to win the MVP award since James Harden in 2018.
Before Gilgeous-Alexander, only three players in NBA history had won scoring, league MVP, NBA championship and Finals MVP in the same season: Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal.
“There are many athletes who could be considered great players who have won at least one of these awards,” Rowan Barrett, general manager of the Canadian men's team, said at a rally in Hamilton in August.
“It was a beautiful sight to see, doing it all with such grace, calm under pressure and true leadership in every sense of the word.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became the second Canadian ever to win the NBA MVP award after Steve Nash. He led the league in scoring this season, led the Oklahoma City Thunder to their best record and is helping bolster Canada's growing influence in basketball.
Cut from the university junior team
Gilgeous-Alexander finished his memorable 2024-25 season with 29 points and 12 assists as the Thunder beat the visiting Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals..
A few years ago, he was cut from the junior varsity team in 9th grade. Gilgeous-Alexander was benched for most of the first two months of his first season at Kentucky, was not drafted in the top 10 (he was 11th overall in 2018) and was traded from the Los Angeles Clippers after his rookie year.
“He is an example that all children should look up to. Be humble, work hard, be kind, compete at the highest level and have fun doing it,” Tim Francis, who coached Gilgeous-Alexander at Sir Allan McNab High School in Hamilton, told CBC News this summer.
In August, hundreds of people attended a free rally in honor of Gilgeous-Alexander as he was given the key to the city by the mayor of Hamilton for the first time since 1998.
He didn't rest on his laurels, as Gilgeous-Alexander averaged more points (32.8) in fewer minutes than he did last season.
He also boasts career-best 55.6% field goal percentage and 44.3 3-point range.
Watch Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Hamilton, Ontario lift the Larry O'Brien championship trophy after winning the NBA championship, as well as the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP trophy.
McIntosh won 4 gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships.
McIntosh won four of five races at the FINA World Championships in August.
The 19-year-old athlete won gold medals in Singapore in the 200m medley and butterfly, as well as the 400m freestyle and medley. Her other medal was bronze in the 800-meter freestyle.
“I have so many amazing takeaways and so many lessons that I can take from this meeting, and that's what will continue to push me and push me forward,” McIntosh told CBC Sports' Devin Hehr in August.
McIntosh is only the second woman in history to win four individual 50m pool titles at a single World Long Course Championships event, following American great Katie Ledecky in 2015.
She is also the third swimmer to win five individual medals at the world championships, joining Phelps and Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom.
The swimming superstar spoke with CBC Sports' Devin Heroux following the conclusion of the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. McIntosh collected four gold medals and five individual medals at the championships.
McIntosh has won 13 world medals: eight gold, one silver and four bronze.
She prepared for the competition by breaking three world records in five days in June at the Canadian trials in Victoria – in the 400m freestyle, 200m medley and her own mark in the 400m. McIntosh was 45 to 100 seconds off the 16-year-old's world record in the 200m butterfly.
The North Star Awards are presented annually by the Toronto Star and voted for by sports journalists from across Canada.
Issued since 1936.
Until 2023, it was called the Lou Marsh Award in honor of the former NHL player and referee who worked in the Toronto Star sports department for more than 40 years.
The prize was renamed after concerns emerged in recent years about some racist language used in Marsh's writings.
