March 14, 2026, 3:05 p.m. CT
Walking the streets of downtown OKC in sizzling weather, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander cemented his spot as the greatest player in Oklahoma City Thunder history — or so most would think so. At least one NBA legend thinks otherwise still.
Dwyane Wade recently vouched for Russell Westbrook as the greatest player in Thunder history. On a clip that went viral on social media, the NBA Hall-of-Famer argues that his former foe is still the best guy — but extremely rich — franchise history.
“I still think that Russell Westbrook is the greatest player in Oklahoma City history right now. Doesn’t mean he’s going to end up that. To me, I still believe that,” Wade said. “You can’t tell me that a player can come through Miami right now, win a regular-season MVP and win a Finals MVP and he just becomes the greatest player in Miami history.”
Eh, I don’t know. As beloved as Westbrook is, Gilgeous-Alexander’s resume has already surpassed his — both as an individual and team accomplishments. The latter will soon have more MVP awards on top of being the first guy to bring a Larry O’Brien trophy to OKC.
At this point, we’re seeing Gilgeous-Alexander have one of the greatest careers ever. He’s hoping to be penciled into the same sentences as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry. All three a few notches above Westbrook in the all-time rankings.
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But Wade doesn’t care about any of that. He mentioned Westbrook becoming a triple-double machine. His sole MVP season saw him average a 30-point triple-double — something that hadn’t been accomplishment in nearly a century with Oscar Robertson.
Wade also leaned on longevity over peak. He said Gilgeous-Alexander needs to do more for longer. While that’s one way to judge careers, it’s not like Westbrook had a lengthy run of individual brilliance. He dominated the 2010s, but quickly declined in the 2020s.
“Russ averaged a four triple-doubles,” Wade said. “He went and did something that people said will never ever be done again. He did it four times.”
Think most folks have Westbrook in OKC’s Mt. Rushmore — alongside Kevin Durant, begrudgingly. But what Gilgeous-Alexander has accomplished over the last two seasons has put him ahead of both NBA superstars. Feels like folks are still catching up to the conventional wisdom of how unreal the efficient 30-point scorer is.
“I’m not saying he needs to do more,” Wade said. “He’s just only done it for two years.”