SGA poised to surpass Wilt’s record: Thunder player’s milestone achievement, by the statistics
On November 1, 2024, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander recorded 30 points in a 137-114 victory for the Oklahoma City Thunder against the Portland Trail Blazers. At that moment, it was not an especially remarkable performance; Gilgeous-Alexander had averaged 30.1 points per game in the previous season, finishing as the runner-up for the MVP award.
However, 16 months later, that game has taken on significant historical relevance, marking the beginning of a 126-game journey for a player who has since secured the regular-season MVP title, earned Finals MVP honors, and matched a record that has stood for 63 years.
On Thursday night, facing the Boston Celtics, Gilgeous-Alexander will aim to score at least 20 points for the 127th consecutive game, a streak that began that night in Portland. Achieving this feat would allow him to surpass the legendary Wilt Chamberlain for the longest such streak in NBA history.
This record is a fitting testament to historic consistency for a player who once stated, “My whole life is consistent, everything I do.”
To honor that consistency, here are 20 of the most remarkable and extreme statistics regarding Gilgeous-Alexander’s historic 20-point streak.
1. The first surprising aspect of Gilgeous-Alexander’s achievement is that he even approached Chamberlain’s record. No other player had come close before; prior to SGA, the second-longest 20-point streak in NBA history was Chamberlain’s own at 92 games. This is why Gilgeous-Alexander regards Chamberlain as “almost like a mythical creature,” due to his unique statistical accomplishments.
Oscar Robertson’s 79-game streak ranks third, indicating that throughout NBA history until this season, Chamberlain was the only player to extend his streak to the equivalent of an entire season. Even Robertson’s streak only reached 63% of the record.
2. The competition has been even less impressive in recent years. In the 21st century, Kevin Durant is the only other player to surpass half of Chamberlain’s record; he had a 72-game streak that began in his final season with Oklahoma City and concluded early in his time with the Warriors. Following Durant, Kobe Bryant achieved 63 consecutive games, exactly halfway to Chamberlain’s 126, from December 2005 to November 2006.
On average, the longest 20-point streak for every MVP this century, aside from Gilgeous-Alexander, is merely 36 games.
Longest 20-Point Streaks From 21st-Century MVPs
3. Currently, the next-longest active streak after SGA belongs to Kawhi Leonard at 42 games, while Leonard and the injured Joel Embiid (24 games) are the only active players whose streaks date back to 2025, let alone 2024. Gilgeous-Alexander’s streak is not merely a product of the era but rather a remarkable achievement from the reigning MVP, who is heavily favored to repeat in 2025-26.
4. In light of this historical context, it’s useful to perform some calculations to understand the extremity of this streak. Over the last two seasons, during which Gilgeous-Alexander has pursued his record-setting goal, players selected for an All-Star team have scored 20 or more points in 71% of their games. Based on this probability, the chances of an All-Star reaching 20-plus points for 126 consecutive games are approximately 1 in 3,200,000,000,000,000,000, or 1 in 3.2 quintillion.
This quintillion figure is comparable to one estimate of the total number of grains of sand on Earth. In other words, the likelihood of a modern NBA All-Star exceeding Chamberlain’s streak is roughly akin to finding a specific grain of sand somewhere on the entire planet.
5. So, how did Gilgeous-Alexander manage to overcome such staggering odds and pursue one of Chamberlain’s many enduring records? One explanation is his proficiency from every area of the court.
If we categorize Gilgeous-Alexander’s 4,092 points during his streak across various offensive regions, as defined by GeniusIQ, we observe a remarkably balanced distribution. He has scored between 16% and 25% of his points from all five areas: free throw line, restricted area, key, midrange, and 3-point range.
In comparison, Luka Doncic, the second-highest scorer over the last two seasons, generates a similar percentage of his points from the free throw line (23%), but is significantly more reliant on 3-point shooting (36%) than on closer shots (11% from the restricted area). Gilgeous-Alexander’s shot distribution is notably egalitarian for a guard in the contemporary NBA.
6. He is also not a static player; he has improved throughout his streak. Although Gilgeous-Alexander has a career 3-point shooting percentage of 35.9%, he has elevated that to 39.3% since the previous All-Star break. This figure places him in the same range as elite shooters like Stephen Curry (39.8%), Kawhi Leonard (39.0%), Anthony Edwards (38.9%), Desmond Bane (38.8%), and Klay Thompson (38.4%) during that period.
7. Gilgeous-Alexander has also enhanced his performance inside the arc: he is converting a career-high 60.1% of his 15 two-point attempts per game this season. This marks the most efficient two-point shooting for a guard in NBA history (minimum 10 attempts per game).
8. His overall efficiency is also among the best in the league, thanks to his improved 3-point shooting, historic two-point accuracy, and ability to draw fouls (converting at a 90% rate from the line). With a true shooting percentage of 66.7%, Gilgeous-Alexander ranks second on the all-time list for 30-point scorers. Only Stephen Curry’s 66.9% from the 2015-16 season, when he won a unanimous MVP award and produced one of the greatest offensive seasons in NBA history with a record-setting 402 3-pointers, is higher.
9. Gilgeous-Alexander’s overall efficiency is further enhanced because he not only creates positive plays but also minimizes negative ones. He is averaging just 2.1 turnovers per game this season, the lowest recorded for a player averaging 30 points per game. The previous record was held by Gilgeous-Alexander himself, who averaged 2.2 turnovers in 2023-24. Last season, he averaged 2.4 turnovers per game, which ties with Michael Jordan’s 1995-96 season for the third-fewest.
10. Since the beginning of last season, Gilgeous-Alexander naturally leads the league in 20-point games. He also holds the top spot by a significant margin in 30-point games, with 86. Doncic follows in second place with 59, which is 31% behind SGA’s total.
11. Gilgeous-Alexander is tied for the most 40-point games since the start of last season, with both he and Edwards achieving 18 each.
12. Although Gilgeous-Alexander is recognized more for his consistency than explosiveness, he also leads the league in 50-point games since the beginning of last season, with five. Nikola Jokic (four) is the only other player with more than two.
13. Analyzing Gilgeous-Alexander’s game-by-game point totals throughout his 126-game streak reveals another even distribution. He has scored exactly 20 points, 21 points, 22 points, and so forth, all the way up to 42, at least once.
SGA’s Single-Game Point Totals During Streak
He is most frequently found in the low 30s. His most common point total during the streak is 30 points (13 times), followed by 31 (11 times), 35 (nine times), and 32 and 33 (eight times each).
14. Those scoring totals are dwarfed by Chamberlain’s, of course. The Big Dipper averaged 49.2 points per game during his record streak, compared to SGA’s 32.5. However, Chamberlain also benefited from unprecedented playing time, averaging 48.4 minutes per game and being substituted out in only three of 126 games. (In those games, he still played 45, 40, and 36 minutes.)
In contrast, Gilgeous-Alexander has not played 48 minutes in any game during his streak and has significantly more games with minutes totals in the 20s (24) than in the 40s (five).
15. When adjusting the statistics of both stars on a per-36-minute basis to account for the playing time disparity, the competition becomes much closer: 36.6 points per 36 minutes for Chamberlain versus 34.4 for Gilgeous-Alexander.
16. One area where these two scoring legends significantly differ is in team success. Oklahoma City has achieved a record of 102-24 during Gilgeous-Alexander’s streak, while the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors posted a 66-60 record during Chamberlain’s tenure.
17. Looking at the bigger picture, Gilgeous-Alexander is on track to average over 30 points per game for the fourth consecutive season. The only other players in NBA history to achieve this are Chamberlain (seven consecutive years), Jordan (seven), Robertson (four), and Adrian Dantley (four).
18. The only players to average over 30 points per game for four straight years and win a championship during that time are Gilgeous-Alexander and Jordan.
19. Returning to Gilgeous-Alexander’s current achievement: How far can his 20-point streak extend? Chamberlain’s streak ended due to an unusual circumstance rather than a decline in performance: after 126 consecutive 20-point games, he was ejected just four minutes into Game 127 after receiving two technical fouls for disputing a foul call against a teammate. Following that, Chamberlain surpassed the 20-point mark for 20 consecutive games, then missed once before embarking on his 92-game streak.
In essence, Chamberlain was merely one poorly timed argument and a few fortunate bounces away from an extraordinary 240-game 20-point streak, which would have nearly doubled the actual record.
20. Conversely, Gilgeous-Alexander is not at risk of ejection and has not encountered any close calls recently. Since returning from injury at the end of February, he has averaged 30.8 points per game and scored at least 26 in all five games.
While it remains plausible that his streak could conclude sooner rather than later, given the overwhelming odds against even reaching triple digits, let alone maintaining it indefinitely. Prior to his current run, SGA’s longest 20-point streaks were 37 games in 2023, 29 games in 2024, and 20 games in 2023-24. He has clearly elevated his scoring ability over the past two seasons, but many other historically great scorers have not come close to 126 games — and counting — in a row.
Nonetheless, this only underscores the significance of Gilgeous-Alexander’s latest achievement. Matching any of Chamberlain’s numerous records is deserving of recognition.
