What are we witnessing?Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's steady, expectation-defying development into the MVP has been staggering to Thunder fans. I recently saw the Shai/Paul George trade compared to the Yankees' acquisition of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox, by a non-Thunder fan. Both his brilliance and the sudden, mildly surprising heel turn he's taken as a "foul merchant" outside of OKC, have been increasingly loud as these playoffs have progressed. Gilgeous-Alexander has gone from an MVP underdog to an inevitable, star heel to fans dumbstruck by how dominant the young Thunder look. It's hard to blame them for crying "He's a witch!" when Shai throws foul artistry (the salty but accurate term David Adelman used in a backhanded compliment to Shai last round) into his unfair mix of shooting, distributing, and finishing.If Shai's ascension, and his teammates' formidable development via home-grown and acquired talent, is staggering to us, imagine how his arrival feels to another fanbase. The league decided to shroud the league's most stable, media-friendly, exciting young team until the MVP vote snowballed in Shai's favor well into this season. To the unwitting fan, there's suddenly a fashion model, Neo in the Hardwood Matrix gravity bender winning a game every time you turn on the TV. And he's doing it by playmaking on both sides of the ball with unlimited turbo and 99 skill rating handle and 99 skill rating shooting leading run-and-gun blowouts with the unrealistic pile of drafted role players with the sliders up or whatever, 2K style. In the playoffs. Plus, he's getting all the calls. Cut them a break.Development can be linearWhat has been a given, every single season preceding his expected prime years, is that Shai gets better. He wins more. He leads the offense better. He contributes on defense more. He's become a strong link in the defense and the fulcrum of an efficient offense thanks to his high-volume, turnover- and bad-shot averse version of Kobe ball.Aside from his individual development, Shai has helped his talented but young teammates get better, quick. Every season, Shai has raised his own ceiling while raising his team's floor, most consistently on offense and defense, in that respective order. He is not the defensive presence that Tim Duncan was, but his buy-in and effectiveness on that side of the court is Duncan-like as a culture-setter, even as he enjoys a Westbrook-like share of the offense (with KD-like efficiency). Like San Antonio could with Duncan, OKC can plug more talented, egalitarian players around their cornerstone. And as the pieces around Shai have continued to develop, he has amplified their effectiveness by refusing to shove off more of the "little things" burden onto their shoulders. Saturday Morning Cartoons: Say Hey to Shai, AgainThunder fun for the weekend.Shai is not just a versatile component of any Thunder scheme from blitzing to switching. He's rarely OKC's best defender with the most demanding assignment (for good reason), but he's still a game-breaking playmaker on defense, third in the league in stocks this season.And while we didn't expect this from Shai on offense, we did see early glimpses of greatness at Daily Thunder. Aidan Elrod was highly impressed with SGA's scoring as a rookie, even when banking more on the lottery talent's defensive package. Coming into the league as a crafty combo-guard who excels in the pick-and-roll, he has continued to live up to his expectations in that facet of his game. He ranked in the 58th percentile of PnR Ball Handlers last season, ahead of notable players like Trae Young, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jokic, and even our former friend Russell Westbrook in terms of points-per-possession... He’s not shabby in isolation, either, ranking in the 87th percentile among all NBA players who appeared in at least 50 games. Despite my concerns about his weight, SGA uses his strength effectively on offense with deceptive push-offs to create space for himself. Shai is already one of the better finishing guards in the league, and he uses his length to his advantage in these situations with crafty finishes at the basket, where he shot 63 percent last season.Say Hey to Shai: What Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Means to the Thunder - Daily ThunderDoes SGA have the tools to become an all-star cornerstone for the Oklahoma City Thunder?Embarrassment of shiny richesThe bounty of incoming draft picks gobbled up during Sam Presti's ambitious rebuild stole the show from Shai for too long. We wondered where he profiled–the third-best player on a championship team? A capable 2A? A "true" point-guard?–relative to the pieces around him on the roster. Remember the brief, cringe debate over whether SGA or Josh Giddey should be the lead playmaker? The trade angst around Shai and Cade Cunningham or Evan Mobley?Shame on everyone. The 2K-ness of the replenishing was intoxicating, as it had been to The Process fans in Philly before us. (They're still high on The Process, and who can blame them. They just survived another Draft Lottery asset shoot against the Thunder's loaded dice while the Sixers team is relaxing on vacation.)The Rights to Ricky Sanchez's 2025 Lottery PartyWe should have, from the start, focused on how the pieces fit around Shai and not the reverse. The bird was already in hand, worth more than the picks in the bush. SGA's ability to guard up or down from wing was once a hypothetical luxury to slot him next to a "better" player of our imaginations. But it's an actual luxury for the current Thunder because they can place the best role players around their best player without fit constraints.It was once nice to know that SGA could hypothetically be paired with Joel Embiid or Damian Lillard, but it's more relevant to realize that the likes of Al Horford and Jrue Holiday are better fits alongside Shai than they were next to Embiid or Giannis. Duncan could win a title next to smart, skilled veterans and a blossoming player of Kawhi Leonard's magnitude; SGA is attempting to do the same alongside Chet Holmgren and/or Jalen Williams. (If the Spurs echoes are getting on your nerves now, just wait until Nikola Topic becomes the Ginobili I never had.)Face of the league, when?The bizarrely delayed announcement of the MVP winner while Shai and the presumptive runner-up (Nikola Jokic) played like–you guessed it–dueling MVPs through a thrilling seven game postseason series did not help. The NBA didn't address the elephant in the room when reporters asked for comment on the when and why of the game's most prestigious individual award. They just stalled beyond what may have been the last competitive playoff series left, at the same time many neutral fans were making their own minds up about SGA, the Thunder, and their rightful place in the league for the first time.What is going on with this Thunder team, aren't they too young and unproven to really be this good? The 68 wins in the regular season felt like a cheat code–OKC had too much depth and high-floor skill to lose many games, it was generally accepted. That they had enough top-end talent to win many, many more games hadn't been national broadcasters' nor NBA Twitter's consensus. Thunder fans knew the team had arrived last year, but the rest of the basketball world still wasn't ready for them this postseason.Here to stayShai was the only superstar over the All-Star Break to say unambiguously that yes, he would accept being the new face of the league. Why should we be surprised, when he said the same thing about becoming the face of the Thunder before he had played a minute in blue?“It’s something I want and that I embrace.” Is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the Thunder’s Next Star? - Daily ThunderWe asked SGA what he felt about Thunder fans already viewing him as the future face of the franchise.His mild mannered, confident view is the stuff Thunder fans should not take for granted: he expects to win so much, while taking on the most responsibility for a title team, that his stardom will be inevitable. He is entering his next contract decision without an agent, with the stated plans to continue a no-brainer partnership with the Thunder franchise. He's also brand and image savvy enough to be unexhausted by the scrutiny and breadth of exposure that global stardom can entail (contrasted with Jokic, who outwardly snubs any corporate endorsement opportunities for the NBA).There are a lot more games to win, but Thunder fans are not rooting for a mirage. SGA is the rightful MVP playing for the rightful title favorites, and we should stop being surprised when he takes over the game, the series, and next up, the league.