March 13, 2026, 7:00 p.m. CT
Adding to his heightening mythos, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander snatched away one of Wilt Chamberlain’s many legendary NBA records. After 63 years, the basketball pantheon no longer sits atop the list for the longest 20-point streak ever.
After the Oklahoma City Thunder picked up a 104-102 win over the Boston Celtics, that now belongs to Gilgeous-Alexander at 127 consecutive games.
Feeling out the moment, Gilgeous-Alexander crossed the 20-point mark in his most appropriate way — a pull-up id-range jumper despite textbook defense by Baylor Scheierman. The third-quarter bucket will forever be remembered when folks talk about the 27-year-old’s growing list of accomplishments.
During the year-plus-long streak, Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged 32.5 points on 53.7% shooting. In the smackdab middle of the 2020s, I think it’s fair to say this era of the NBA will be partially remembered for what he’s done with his improbable journey to NBA superstardom — ala Stephen Curry in the 2010s and Kobe Bryant in the 2000s.
Before Gilgeous-Alexander officially broke the NBA record, he already received a few congratulatory messages from his peers. One was Kevin Durant — OKC fans’ first NBA superstar that they fell in love with. Now a scorned ex, the all-time legend put his trolling persona aside to appreciate what Gilgeous-Alexander has done.
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If anybody can understand how difficult it is to score 20-plus points on a nightly basis, it’s Durant. After all, he has the fifth and 16th longest 20-point streaks ever at 72 and 56 games, respectively. There’s a reason why he’s a synonym for a walking 30-point bucket for nearly two decades now.
Durant talked about Gilgeous-Alexander’s 20-point streak after the Houston Rockets picked up a win over the Toronto Raptors. You can tell how much he appreciates his journey to the NBA throne.
“He’s been out of this world for the last four, five years. Especially scoring the ball. I think he’s averaging 30 over the last four years,” Durant said. “I love players who care about leaving their mark in the history books. You can tell Shai cares about it. Obviously, he’s a team-first player. But you can tell he wants to be great. He wants to be considered one of the greatest of all time.”
Of course, the links between Durant and Gilgeous-Alexander are endless — even if they’ve seldom shared the court. Durant was OKC’s first NBA superstar. He led them to several deep playoff runs as a perennial contender for nearly a decade.
After Durant shockingly left, it only took the Thunder three years to add Gilgeous-Alexander. Unlike the former, he wasn’t viewed as a franchise player before he joined the NBA. Instead, he traveled through the unconventional route to superstardom. From a decent prospect to an eventual MVP winner — all within the blink of an eye, too.
So it’s cool for Durant to recognize. Say what you want about his social media personality or his baggage, but he’s never been the type to downplay others’ success for his own. He’s complimented the Thunder for building up a win machine a handful of times over the years. It’s clear he respects how OKC runs things — even after his departure.
“He’s putting in that work every single day. Congrats to him for accomplishing that. Coming where he comes from. Being overlooked a bit coming into the league,” Durant said. “Now looking where he is, it’s an amazing story a lot of people can learn from and be inspired from.”