Over halfway through the season, the Oklahoma City Thunder have quickly established themselves as a title contender.
A 32-13 record puts them in first place in the Western Conference standings. A lot of OKC’s strong start can be attributed to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s ascension to an MVP candidate.
In 44 games, he’s averaged 31.1 points on 54.5% shooting, 6.4 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 steals. He leads the league in 30-point outings this season.
The 25-year-old’s stellar campaign earned him All-Star starter nods, which was the first of his career. It’s also only his second All-Star selection.
Following the Thunder’s blowout win over the Pelicans, Gilgeous-Alexander talked about the starting nod and being voted as one of the 10 best players in the league this season.
“It’s an honor, it’s a blessing,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Obviously, there’s so many talented players in the NBA, so many talented guards, especially in the West. To be voted first by my peers — people that do the same job as me every night — is a really good feeling.”
The other two players in OKC’s young trio — Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams — also sounded off on Gilgeous-Alexander’s selection, saying it just validates what they already knew about their teammate.
“Well deserved and obvious that it was gonna happen,” Holmgren said. “He’s very deserving and I’m sure it’s not gonna be the last time. It’s good to see that people around the league — other than us — as players respect him too because it’s pretty undeniable what he does every single night.
“I’m sure there’s people on every team voting for him because there’s not a night where it’s like he wasn’t an All-Star tonight. He brings it every night and that’s huge for us. He’s gonna continue to do that for a long time.”
Williams kept it short and sweet about Gilgeous-Alexander’s selection: “Duh! That’s all I got.”
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault also spoke about Gilgeous-Alexander’s selection, saying his consistency and elevating his teammates is what impresses him the most.
“He does it inside the team,” Daigneault said. “His success also impacts the whole and somehow creates space for other guys to elevate and other guys to improve and other guys to rock out a little bit…
“He’s able to balance high ambition and high production also with creating the level of space he does for the rest of the team. To me, is the most impressive thing. He’s a great player.”
While Gilgeous-Alexander gets the highest honor, there’s a good shot that all Daigneault, Holmgren and Williams also join him in the All-Star weekend festivities.
Holmgren and Williams are a lock to be part of the Rising Stars challenge and the former also has an outside shot of being a rookie All-Star if enough injury replacements are needed.
Meanwhile, Daigneault will get chosen to be an All-Star head coach if the Thunder are still in first place by Feb. 4. There’s a decent chance the weekend extravaganza is littered with OKC representation.
The 2024 NBA All-Star game is set to be played on Sunday, Feb. 18 at Indiana.
