Shai Gilgeous-alexander Leads Thunder Into 64-Win Playoff Clash
shai gilgeous-alexander enters Game 1 at Paycom Center with the Thunder carrying the league's best 64-win regular season, and the matchup with LeBron James gives the second-round series a clear center of gravity. Oklahoma City opens the series on Tuesday against a Lakers team that arrived with Luka Doncic sidelined by a left hamstring strain.
Paycom Center Opens the Series
James is 41 years old, a four-time league MVP with four NBA titles and four Finals MVPs, while Gilgeous-Alexander is the reigning MVP and was described as the reigning and likely-to-be-two-time MVP. That gives Game 1 a direct comparison between one of the game's finished legacies and a player still building one at the top of the standings.
The Thunder's regular season set the tone for that comparison. Gilgeous-Alexander led them to a franchise-best 68-win season in 2024-25, then became the 11th player in league history to win the regular season MVP and Finals MVP in the same season.
James And Gilgeous-Alexander
LeBron's place in that company is part of the frame here. He won the regular season MVP and Finals MVP in back-to-back years in 2012 and 2013, and he remains the league's all-time leader in points and minutes played with a league-record 22 All-Star selections and 21 All-NBA selections.
Gilgeous-Alexander turns 28 in July, and the path in front of him is specific: if the Thunder win back-to-back titles while he again takes regular season MVP and Finals MVP, he would join James and Michael Jordan as the only players to do that. Jordan did it in 1991 and 1992, and the same route would also place Gilgeous-Alexander among a short list that includes Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon as back-to-back Finals MVP winners.
Thunder Chase The West
Oklahoma City is trying to reach the Western Conference finals, and the series carries that weight immediately because the Thunder could become the first defending champions to reach that round since the 2018-19 Warriors. The league's reigning champions already have the wins and the award hardware; Game 1 asks whether they can turn both into another deep run while James tries to slow the player viewed as carrying the torch.
For the Lakers, the injury list adds another layer before the opener. Doncic's left hamstring strain leaves James as the central counterweight to Gilgeous-Alexander, and the opening game in Oklahoma City puts the matchup front and center from the first possession.
