Gilgeous-Alexander chases Wilt Chamberlain's scoring streak and aims for historic back-to-back MVP honors, cementing his legendary status.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named Sports Illustrated’s 2025 Sportsperson of the Year because of his tremendous accomplishments in the 2024-25 season.
He averaged 32.7 points per game and led the Thunder to 68 regular season wins, the second-best net rating of all time and the franchise’s first championship. Gilgeous-Alexander also joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal as the only players in NBA history to win the scoring title, MVP and Finals MVP in the same season.
Oklahoma City’s superstar already has a career worthy of the Hall of Fame, but the 27 year old is squarely in his prime and ready to write his name into more record books over the next few months.
First, Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at least 20 points in 121 consecutive regular season games dating back to Nov. 1, 2024.
Wilt Chamberlain unsurprisingly holds the current record at 126 consecutive games. It’s worth noting that Chamberlain’s streak ended on Jan. 20, 1963 because he left the contest after only logging four minutes due to an illness. The next time he scored under 20 points was Feb. 24 when he produced 13 points in 40 minutes against the Hawks.
If the game where he exited early was excluded, then Chamberlain’s streak would be 146 consecutive games. However, records do not work this way. Being available and healthy is a factor in the equation.
Assuming Gilgeous-Alexander returns to action after the All-Star break and maintains his 20-point streak, then he would reach 127 consecutive games and officially break the record on March 1 against the Mavericks. Gilgeous-Alexander can also reach 147 consecutive games and break the unofficial record where Chamberlain’s four-minute game is excluded on April 12 against the Suns. That’s the last regular season of the season for Oklahoma City. It’s highly unlikely that he plays every remaining game, so Gilgeous-Alexander probably has to wait until next season to reach 147 games.
Meanwhile, he is currently shooting 55.4% from the field, 39% from beyond the arc and 89.2% from the charity stripe. Only nine players in NBA history have recorded 50/40/90 shooting splits across an entire season while qualifying (taking enough attempts) in each category:
- Larry Bird (1987, 1988)
- Mark Price (1989)
- Reggie Miller (1994)
- Steve Nash (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010)
- Kevin Durant (2013)
- Stephen Curry (2016)
- Malcolm Brogdon (2019)
- Kyrie Irving (2021)
It’s a highly exclusive club, and Gilgeous-Alexander joining the list would speak volumes to his recent growth as a three-point shooter.
Finally, Gilgeous-Alexander is the heavy favorite to repeat as league MVP. He would become the 14th player in NBA history to win the award in consecutive seasons. The list contains Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokić. That’s quite the company.