Despite being severely undermanned in the frontcourt without players like Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams and, now for the next eight to 10 weeks, Chet Holmgren, the OKC Thunder still managed to find a way to get their ninth win against the LA Clippers on Monday night.

Although earning a victory took the effort of the entire team, especially on the defensive end as they tried to make up for their 7-foot-1 gap at the pivot, Oklahoma City franchise center Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the charge. who stood with his paws everywhere during his 39 minutes of action.

The reigning MVP runner-up was a two-way savant against Los Angeles, then filled the stat sheet with an impressive all-around performance of 45 points (new career-high), 9 assists, 3 rebounds, 5 steals and 2 blocks while shooting 61.9 percent from the floor and shooting 50.0 percent from distance.

Without their All-Star point guard, the Thunder would have been absolutely dead in the water, and while this feeling may be the case on most nights, it was painfully more than evident against the Clippers, as even with his heroics, Mark Daigneault’s squad still only managed to get by with a 134-128 lead.

Before Monday’s game, LA coach Tyronn Lue told reporters how impressed he was with SGA’s rise in 2024-2025, noting he’s starting to prove he’s worthy of being part of the conversation about taking on the name ‘superstar’, thanks to his ability to not force things and ultimately let the game come to him.

After his club’s loss, the ninth-year center echoed those statements, summing up the Thunder guard in two words: “Extreme talent.”

“I thought he trusted his teammates, I thought he made the right plays, and when it was time to take over the game when it got close, he did that all the way down the stretch, which he does so well and that has he’s been doing lately.” few years… He plays the game the right way. If you double-cock him he will make the right pass, if you don’t he is skilled enough to make his own shot at any time. Lue said.

As Lue noted, Gilgeous-Alexander has put up similar production for the better part of the last three years and, as a result, earned two consecutive All-Star and All-NBA nods while currently on his way to his third-place finish. for each.

Now in year seven, it looks like he’s starting to take his game to a whole new level.

Averaging 27.8 points, 6.5 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.1 blocks on 50.0 percent shooting from the floor, it’s clear that the 26-year-old’s stats alone but remain in elite territory.

However, the eye test shows that he has added even more to his already large collection of tricks, especially when it comes to his scoring game where he is much more willing to step into pull-ups from the perimeter – something he has been working on. on throughout the low season.

While this shift and increase in attempts has affected his efficiency on paper (only 29.5 percent shooting from deep compared to 35.3 percent from last year), against Los Angeles it seemed to make the difference in the final outcome of the game.

Already known to be a handful of opponents to deal with, Tyronn Lue and his Clippers saw firsthand just how much of a difference-maker Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can be.