Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Toronto, Ontario has won the 2025 Lionel Conacher Award. The award is presented to the Canadian Press Male Athlete of the Year. This is the second time Gilgeous-Alexander won the award as he previously was honoured in 2023.
What Gilgeous-Alexander accomplished was simply remarkable. During the 2024-25 National Basketball Association regular season, he led the league in scoring (32.7 points per game), free throws made per game (7.9), total points (2484), free throws made (601), and field goals made (860). During the 2025 NBA Playoffs, Gilgeous-Alexander led the league in points (688), field goals (233), two point field goals (201), and free throws (190). He also won the NBA Finals, was the NBA Most Valuable Player, and NBA Finals MVP.
Then to begin the 2025-26 NBA season, Gilgeous-Alexander leads the NBA in free throws made (243), total points (964), and field goals made per game (10.9). The Thunder continue to be the best team in the NBA. They have a record of 26 wins and five losses for a winning percentage of .839.
Gilgeous-Alexander also won the 2025 Northern Star Award, presented to the top Canadian Athlete of the Year. One interesting storyline was who placed second in the voting for the Lionel Conacher Award. It was Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of Montreal, Quebec. Even though Guerrero Jr. was born in Canada, he considers himself more Dominican than Canadian and will be representing the Dominican Republic at the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, who considers himself Canadian, is a Canadian citizen, and represents Canada internationally, is ineligible for the award because he was not born in Canada, or raised in Canada growing up while he played baseball. Clearly, the Canadian Press needs to reconsider their eligibility criteria.
