SI

Thunder Needed Just 11 Years to Match Lakers for Impressive NBA Record

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the scoring champion this season and put the Thunder in historic company.

Madison Williams

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander celebrates scoring a basket.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander celebrates scoring a basket. / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
In this story:

Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the favorite to win the NBA's MVP award, is the official scoring champion of the 2024–25 NBA season with 2,484 points scored this year.

Gilgeous-Alexander is the third Thunder star to be named the scoring champion, joining four-time champion Kevin Durant (2010, '11, '12, '14) and two-time champion Russell Westbrook ('15, '17).

The Thunder are now the only team apart from the Los Angeles Lakers to have three scoring champions on their team since the 1969–70 season, when Jerry West captured the title. Shaquille O'Neal then won the scoring title during the 1999–2000 season, followed by Kobe Bryant winning in 2005–06 and 2006–07.

While it took the Lakers 36 seasons to have three players accomplish this feat, the Thunder did so in just an 11 year span beginning with Durant's 2014 win—impressive.

O'Neal also won the NBA MVP award and the Lakers won the NBA title the same season he was named the scoring champion. Will Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder be able to copy that success this postseason? The Thunder (68–14) clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

More NBA on Sports Illustrated

feed

Published
Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.

Home/NBA