Halloween may have passed, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander cosplayed as a mummy in the final moments of the Oklahoma City Thunder‘s 121-92 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. His shoulder was wrapped with ice and tape. Across his jersey was a make-shift torso-sized bandaid.

It was another restful fourth quarter for Gilgeous-Alexander. That’s seven in 13 games on the season. And by the look of his treatment, it looks like he’s needed it.

Still early, but the Thunder look like a team primed to go back-to-back. They’re off to a dominating start that rivals their historic 68-14 regular-season record last year, where they set the NBA record for largest point differential.

Gilgeous-Alexander is on another plane of existence. His competition isn’t Anthony Edwards or Cade Cunningham. It’s Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Against Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic in back-to-back blowout wins, he showed both that he’s surpassed them in the modern-day game — and maybe, eventually, all-time?

But for that to happen, the Thunder will need Gilgeous-Alexander relatively fresh for the NBA playoffs. That’s six months away, but the sooner you prepare, the better. Regularly getting the fourth quarter off should go a long way toward their second NBA championship aspirations.

Gilgeous-Alexander said he’s definitely felt the benefits of only needing to play around 30 minutes in most of OKC’s games so far. Especially after the Thunder started the year with two straight 2OT wins over the Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers.

“It definitely saves my legs a little bit, for sure. Whatever the game calls for, you adjust to it,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s nice to save the legs and rest a little bit for sure.”

We’ll see if the Thunder can keep it up. They need Gilgeous-Alexander to stay healthy. His durability goes under the radar, as he suits up for 70-plus games every season consistently. Blowing teams out and deciding them within the first three quarters is how you do it.

Of course, it might hurt his box score stats, but that won’t matter when MVP voting happens. As was the case last season, when he sat out a handful of fourth quarters, too. If the Thunder dominate the rest of the league and Gilgeous-Alexander puts up monster numbers, he could be in line for another prestigious trophy.