Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Is Making History-And Forcing the NBA to Take Notice
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t just playing at an elite level-he’s rewriting the expectations for what a modern NBA superstar looks like. After leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to their first NBA championship and capturing both the league MVP and scoring title last season, SGA has picked up right where he left off. The Thunder are off to a league-best start, and at the center of it all is Gilgeous-Alexander, orchestrating the offense with surgical precision and relentless consistency.
And when a player starts stacking accolades like that, the comparisons inevitably follow.
On a recent episode of the No Fouls Given podcast, former NBA champion Paul Pierce didn’t hold back. “You can’t stop him.
He’s starting to give me that Jordan presence,” Pierce said. “He's going to get 30.
We had Kobe, LeBron, KD, and they’ll have big nights, but this dude is consistent 30s.”
Now, that’s the kind of statement that can set NBA Twitter on fire-and it did. Fans pushed back hard at the idea of comparing SGA to Michael Jordan, a six-time champion and widely considered the greatest to ever do it.
Some pointed to Gilgeous-Alexander’s ability to draw fouls as a key part of his game, arguing that it doesn’t quite stack up to the physical dominance of Jordan’s era. Others questioned whether one title and a hot start to the season are enough to vault him into the conversation with names like Kobe, LeBron, or KD.
But here’s the thing: whether or not you agree with the Jordan comparison, it’s impossible to ignore what Gilgeous-Alexander is doing on the court right now.
He’s averaging 32.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game for a Thunder team that’s 20-1. He hasn’t scored fewer than 23 points in a single game this season. And perhaps most impressively, he’s riding a 93-game streak of scoring at least 20 points-a stretch that now ranks as the second-longest in NBA history, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain.
Let that sink in. We’re talking about a 93-game run of 20-plus points. That’s not just volume scoring-it’s sustained dominance at a level reserved for the game’s all-time greats.
And his teammates are seeing the work behind the numbers. Forward Jalen Williams, who’s had a front-row seat to SGA’s rise, spoke about the relentless effort Gilgeous-Alexander puts in behind the scenes.
“That's pretty insane,” Williams said after SGA’s 93rd straight 20-point game, which came in a win over the Trail Blazers. “I think seeing him work out in the summer, seeing him work tirelessly on his body and his craft, it's not so much of a shock to me to hear that stat. He works hard enough, and he outworks a lot of the competition, to where it's almost expected.”
That’s the part of the story that often gets lost in the highlight reels and box scores-how much of this is built in the offseason, in the gym, in the quiet hours when no one’s watching. Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t just talented; he’s obsessed with getting better.
And that’s what makes the Thunder’s title defense so compelling. They’re not just a young team with a hot hand-they’re led by a superstar who’s putting in the kind of work that builds dynasties. If Oklahoma City can keep this momentum going, they’ll have a shot at becoming the first team in seven years to win back-to-back NBA titles.
So no, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t Michael Jordan. But he’s carving out a legacy of his own-and he’s doing it one 30-point night at a time.