Jokic makes history with 5th consecutive top-2 finish in MVP voting

And then the moment got better.

Nash — until now, the first and only Canadian player to win the MVP award — was someone that Gilgeous-Alexander identified in his MVP acceptance speech Wednesday night as one of his basketball inspirations.

“It means the world," Nash, the 2005 and 2006 MVP, said Thursday in a video conference with a small number of reporters. "I don’t need it. And at the same time, there’s no better feeling than watching these guys thrive and them saying you had an impact on them. That makes it all worthwhile and special. And I don’t know if there could be very few compliments higher than that.”

Gilgeous-Alexander — the NBA's scoring champion — got 71 of a possible 100 first-place votes to win the award, one that he'll formally receive Thursday night before he and the Oklahoma City Thunder play host to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals.