Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Value to the Franchise Increasing Game After Game

The defending NBA MVP has now climbed up to the fourth most minutes played by a player donning a Thunder uniform—and his impact continues to climb as well.

Jan 2, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (center) sits on the bench during the second quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is mounting the list of all-time Oklahoma City Thunder greats in many categories.

In Friday night's game in the 131-94 routing over the Golden State Warriors, he surpassed former beloved Thunder and current Houston Rocket Steven Adams in most minutes played in OKC Thunder history. That marks 14,214 minutes in his time as a Thunder compared to Adams' 14,207.

This puts into perspective the amount of time Gilgeous-Alexander has spent in Bricktown—now in his seventh year with the Thunder, having went through many different types of seasons with this team and now running through this one as a defending champion. And with that, comes other feats for the NBA superstar.

He's also just now tied legendary New York Knick Patrick Ewing for most games with 30 points or more in the entire league—sitting at 40th in NBA history with 204 games of that level.

It makes sense as Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 30-plus points each night is nearly a given, as he led the league in scoring a year ago and now sits at second in the league with 32.1 points per contest. Gilgeous-Alexander continues to progress to legendary greatness at just 27-years old, and Oklahoma City is being able to see and revel in it in real time.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dribble — Jan 2, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) dribbles against the Golden State Warriors during the third quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

In the past three games, he's managed at least 30 points in each bout with his high coming at 39 points—but his highest scoring game on the season comes in an early-season matchup against the Indiana Pacers with 55 points in the opening week of the NBA.

He'll look to get the Thunder's 31st win on Sunday evening against the Phoenix Suns, a team he's averaged 32.5 points against in two wins over the Suns this season. In the last 10 games versus this team, Gilgeous-Alexander's put up 30.8 points per contest on 55.8% shooting.