OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t just putting up statistics that make him a top contender for this season’s NBA MVP award.
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s 26-year-old star guard is posting numbers that have put him in the company of some of the league’s all-time greats.
Gilgeous-Alexander — who hails from Canada but closed out his prep basketball career with two seasons at Chattanooga’s Hamilton Heights Christian Academy — scored 50 points Wednesday night as the Thunder beat the Phoenix Suns 140-109.
He became the ninth player in NBA history to score at least 50 points on three or more occasions in a seven-game span, according to the Thunder. That list also includes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan, but Gilgeous-Alexander brushed it off when asked what it meant to join those players.
“Those guys have done so many great things with the game. I’m so far off of that,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who is an NBA All-Star this season — his third such selection — made the All-NBA first team the past two years and was runner-up in league MVP voting to Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic in 2024.