OKLAHOMA CITY (USA) – The time has arrived for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder to rule the NBA.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 35 in Game 7, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a dominant 125–93 win over the Nuggets and into the Western Conference finals.
OKC, the league’s top seed at 68-14, is now just four wins away from its first Finals appearance since 2012. The Thunder’s young core — SGA, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Cason Wallace — showed they’re built for the moment, not just the future.
A championship run has been in the making for a few years.
After spearheading Canada's run to the podium at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 in Manila and being named to the All-Star Five, SGA returned to the NBA and finished second in the MVP voting to Nikola Jokic.
The Thunder point guard averaged 30.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game as Oklahoma City reached the Western Conference Semi-Finals.
In 2024-25, Gilgeous-Alexander poured in a career-high and league leading 32.7 points per contest and the Thunder now find themselves with homecourt advantage until the end of their playoffs run.
Next step for Shai? A special kind of family reunion.
Lu Dort, SGA and Nickeil Alexander Walker playing for Canada at the World CUp 2023
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will face a familiar opponent in the Western Conference Finals — his cousin, Timberwolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
"It'll be very fun," Gilgeous-Alexander said during his postgame presser after Sunday's series-clinching win, via Brandon Rahber of Daily Thunder. "It's hard to even explain. If you know how close we are, he's like my second brother. We've been through every stage of life together... It's very special.
"But I’m gonna try to take his head off for sure," Gilgeous-Alexander added.
The cousins, both raised in the Toronto area, were high school teammates at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy before heading to different colleges — Gilgeous-Alexander to Kentucky, Alexander-Walker to Virginia Tech — and landing in the NBA as first-round picks in consecutive years.
The Canada influence is huge for Oklahoma City.
SGA's moves are outrageous. They are filthy.
He's so shifty, so tricky, that the man trying to guard him often goes one way while he goes the other.
Dort, meanwhile, remains an integral part of the Thunder.
In his sixth season with the team like Gilgeous-Alexander, he is shooting a career-best 42 percent from 3-point range, having nailed 107 of his 255 attempts, while averaging around 10.0 points per game.
It's his defensive instincts and ability to guard that make him invaluable to the Thunder.
Dort plays tenacious defense for both Canada and the Thunder
It's true that Canadian basketball fans are doubly excited about OKC's prospects because Dort is on the team, too.
Fans of FIBA ball have flashbacks to Gilgeous-Alexander in the Canada jersey when they see him in dazzling form for the Thunder.
In 2023, SGA kickstarted his World Cup campaign with 27-point master-classes against France and Latvia in the First Round, and then had 30 in a vital Second Round victory over Spain.
In the knockout round, he poured in 31 in a Quarter-Final triumph over Luka Doncic and Slovenia and signed off with 31 in a Third-Place Game win over USA. That result put Canada on the World Cup podium for the first time.
As one of the top two teams from the Americas at the World Cup, Canada qualified for the Olympics, ending a drought that dated back to Sydney 2000, when Steve Nash was the floor general and Gilgeous-Alexander was just 2!
When SGA wants to get to the basket, no one stops him
At last year's Olympic Games in France, Gilgeous-Alexander was third overall in scoring at 21.0 points per game. He shot 60.5 percent (23 of 38) inside the arc. Canada caught France at the wrong time, though, just as the hosts began to hit their stride, in the Quarter-Finals and lost. They ended up fifth, albeit in arguably the toughest Olympic competition of all time.
Canada's Thunder stars walked off the hardwood in Bercy down, but not out. There is no doubt about their presence at the next World Cup and Olympics.
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I love the game of basketball and I love representing my country
Shai
"Oh yeah," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "I love the game of basketball and I love representing my country."
Despite his team's Quarter-Final heartbreak, Gilgeous-Alexander was so good in Paris that he made the All-Star Five Second Team.
Dort is equally enthusiastic about playing for Canada.
"I'm always proud to wear my country on my chest," he said. "It was a great experience. It's been a long time since Canada made it to (the Olympics in men’s basketball), so I'd be happy to do it again."
What about the Thunder? What do they get out of having their players competing at World Cups and Olympics? Will this make a difference the next time Oklahoma City finds itself in a tough Western Conference play-off series, or in the NBA Finals?
When they link up with the national team, they stay in shape, and sharp overall. They face the best players other countries.
After Canada's run to the World Cup podium, Thunder GM Sam Presti said of Gilgeous-Alexander: "I think playing in those games is huge. And he's going to come back a better player."
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Thunder GM Presti: ''Shai will be a better player after playing at World Cup''
There is no debate that Gilgeous-Alexander and Dort are better players after their last two summers with Canada. That elite level international experience will be pivotal for a Thunder team that could be closing in on title glory.
FIBA