Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for three seasons now has come to Denver with a purpose. Beat the best, so he can be the best.

“These types of games, they just force you to throw your best punch, or else you’ll get embarrassed,” the Oklahoma City star and reigning NBA MVP said Sunday at Ball Arena. “A team (like the Nuggets) that’s this good, has the level of talent, the history — yeah, they just force you to bring it or else you’ll get beat bad. I think the guys did a good job all the way across the board just bringing it and being ready to play.”

Gilgeous-Alexander’s history of great games in Denver dates back to March 2022. That was a season before he made a leap into MVP-level status as a 30-points-per-game scorer, which he’s been for four seasons.

In a game on March 2, Gilgeous-Alexander won in Denver with the Thunder for the first time, racking up 29 points and seven rebounds in a 119-107 win.

Almost a year later, as the Nuggets were on their way to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and their first NBA title, Gilgeous-Alexander and Oklahoma City got the best of Denver in their final meeting that season, with the star point guard scoring 34 points in a two-point win.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, front, collects a loose ball as guard Cason Wallace follows down the court in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

When he returned to the Mile High City in December of that same year, there was something more to play for. Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t just trying to beat a good team with arguably the best player in the league in Nikola Jokic, he was trying to take down the defending champions. He did so by hitting them with a game-winning jump shot in the final moments.

Starting with that game right before Christmas 2023, Gilgeous-Alexander and Oklahoma City are 5-3 at Ball Arena, including the regular season and last year’s memorable second-round playoff series between the two sides.

But Sunday’s performance — 34 points on an efficient 11-for-16 shooting to go with a season-high 13 assists — may have been Gilgeous-Alexander’s magnum opus in a building that always brings out the best in him.

“They’ve won on the highest level. They have really good players, (are) a really good team and, ultimately, if you want to come out of the West, they’re one of the teams you’re gonna have to beat,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “When you do play them before the games really, really matter, you want to give them your best punch so you can see where you stand against them.”

Gilgeous-Alexander threw that punch in a different way in this most recent meeting against the Nuggets — the first of four this season between the juggernauts with the best odds to win the championship. 

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, center, goes up for a basket between Denver Nuggets guards Peyton Watson and Jamal Murray in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

He did it as a passer, making simple reads and using the Nuggets’ overly aggressive defensive to his advantage, consistently finding open teammates on the perimeter (often Cason Wallace, who made a career-high seven 3-pointers) as the Thunder scored easily and often in a 121-111 victory.

“As I go through my career and go through seasons and games and seeing different coverage and different types of bodies, I just try to grow,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “The better you get at individually scoring, the more they make you pass. It’s just how it goes. I’d be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t kind of lean into that.

“I used to try to balance the two. I just got to the conclusion that trying to decide before they even show me what (they’re) gonna do is pointless. It just becomes now, like, taking what they give me, almost every time down (the floor).”

The Nuggets will see Gilgeous-Alexander three more times in the regular season. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see them again square off in the playoffs, maybe this time a round later with a spot in the NBA Finals on the line. 

If that happens, Gilgeous-Alexander will be ready to throw another punch, and it’s been strengthened by last year’s knock-out, drag-out seven-game duel between what many believe are the best teams in the NBA.

“Just going through that experience kinda forced me to get better in not only my plan A, but my plan B and plan C and plan D,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “The greatest players of all-time… they can attack you and kill you in multiple ways. That’s what I’m gonna have to (do) to try to be the greatest I can be.”