Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has put the Oklahoma City Thunder in a great position to potentially represent the Western Conference in the 2025 NBA Finals. And this, in the eyes of Kendrick Perkins, puts him firmly in the discussion of being the best player in team history.
Perkins played with some of the greatest players to ever wear a Thunder uniform, like Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, during his time with the organization. But what Perkins has seen from Gilgeous-Alexander is enough for him to declare that he is the greatest player to ever wear a Thunder uniform.
“The greatest Thunder of all-time,” said Perkins on NBA Today on Friday. “Yeah, the greatest Thunder of all-time. He already joined the company of Michael Jordan this year. Three consecutive seasons of 30 (points-per-game) shooting over 50 percent. Now, he hoisted up the MVP trophy. And now he is on his way to going to the NBA Finals. And he’s gonna win an NBA championship and he’s gonna become Finals MVP. We’re watching a young man right now who is the best perimeter player in the game of basketball on the offensive end. Right now, the way he’s playing right now, he’s unguardable. It’s not gonna stop. He’s in a zone.”
If Gilgeous-Alexander does ultimately lead the Thunder to an NBA championship, it will be hard to argue anything Perkins said here, considering the Thunder have just one championship in 1979 when they were formerly the Seattle Supersonics.
Still, Perkins may be forgetting that Durant and Westbrook also led the Thunder to an NBA Finals appearance and each had a pair of MVP awards in their own right.
If the Thunder don’t end up winning a championship, there still may very well be an argument for Durant or Westbrook to be the best Thunder player of all time.
Either way, it is certainly a credit to the supreme talent that Gilgeous-Alexander has to even be in this conversation at this point in his career.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.