Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Gary Payton are extensively thought-about the best gamers in Thunder/Sonics lore. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has formally entered the chat.
On Tuesday, SGA eclipsed Kevin Durant because the quickest participant in franchise historical past to succeed in 10,000 factors, getting there in his 368th sport. Thoughts you, these numbers do not embody the 889 points he scored as a rookie for the Clippers earlier than being traded to OKC in 2019-20.
That wasn’t the one historic feat achieved by the Toronto native when his Thunder beat the Celtics, 118-112, in a potential NBA Finals preview.
The MVP frontrunner scored over 20 factors, 34 to be exact, for the sixtieth consecutive time this season, becoming a member of Durant, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant because the fourth participant because the NBA-ABA merger to maintain such a streak, and seventh general. Solely Wilt Chamberlain maintained the streak on two separate events, scoring over 20 factors throughout 80 consecutive video games within the 1961-62 and 1963-64 seasons.
With 16 video games left, SGA has a practical probability of surpassing Durant, Bryant, Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the checklist. Jordan scored over 20 in 69 consecutive video games in 1990-91 en path to his second MVP award.
Earlier within the season, SGA joined Jordan as solely the second player ever to file 30+ factors in 40+ video games over three consecutive seasons.
It is not simply his consistency however his effectivity that has positioned him among the many all-time greats. Gilgeous-Alexander is on the verge of becoming a member of Jordan as the one guard in historical past to common over 30 factors at 50 p.c capturing for three consecutive seasons, a feat that eluded different greats reminiscent of Bryant, Stephen Curry and Robertson.
The Toronto native is on his strategy to turning into an all-time nice himself. He is all however sure to clinch his first scoring title (32.8) and MVP award this season.
