When Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, better known as SGA, wrapped up the 2024-25 NBA regular season averaging 32.7 points per game, he solidified his position as one of the league’s elite offensive forces. But as the Oklahoma City Thunder surge through the playoffs, another layer of historic significance begins to emerge. If the Thunder go on to win the NBA championship, SGA’s 32.7 PPG would mark the highest regular-season scoring average ever by a player on a title-winning team in league history.
That’s not just impressive — it’s unprecedented.
Contextualizing the Feat
To fully appreciate what this would mean, it’s important to understand how rare this combination is. The NBA has had its share of high-scoring stars and dominant champions, but they don’t often overlap. The highest-scoring seasons in NBA history usually belong to players whose teams fell short of a title, primarily because such scoring feats are often a symptom of a team needing a superstar to carry a heavy load.
Historically, the players with the highest PPG averages in championship seasons have hovered well below SGA’s mark. For instance:
- Michael Jordan averaged 31.4 PPG in the 1992 championship season — the previous high-water mark for a player leading a title team.
- Kobe Bryant posted 30.2 PPG during the 2006 season, but the Lakers were eliminated in the first round that year. During his championship years, Kobe averaged around 27–28 PPG.
- LeBron James, in his championship seasons, typically averaged between 25 and 28 PPG, balancing scoring with playmaking.
What Shai is doing right now isn’t just rare; it’s singular. No player averaging over 32 PPG has ever carried their team to an NBA championship. If the Thunder finish the job, SGA’s name will be etched in the record books as the highest regular-season scorer to win it all.
Efficiency and Leadership
What makes SGA’s 32.7 PPG even more impressive is the efficiency with which he’s scoring. He isn’t simply putting up empty-calorie points on high usage and poor shooting. Instead, he’s doing it on excellent percentages — shooting over 53% from the field and nearly 36% from three — while also contributing over 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and nearly 2 steals per game. His all-around game has made him the engine behind Oklahoma City’s rapid rise.
SGA’s scoring isn’t flashy for the sake of flash — it’s deliberate, calculated, and often unguardable. His ability to change speeds, get to his spots in the midrange, and finish through contact has elevated him to one of the most efficient volume scorers in the modern NBA. And unlike some high scorers who dominate the ball, SGA integrates his offense into the flow of the team’s system. He doesn’t force shots — he finds the best ones.
The Young Thunder’s Rise
When the Thunder entered the 2024-25 season, they were widely seen as a young, promising team, but not necessarily title contenders. Built around a core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, and Josh Giddey, the team had talent, but many believed they were a year or two away from truly competing.
SGA had different plans.
His MVP-caliber performance — leading OKC to one of the top seeds in the Western Conference — changed the narrative quickly. With a top-5 defense, the Thunder were no longer just young and exciting; they were dominant. And in the playoffs, SGA has continued to shine, proving that his regular-season output wasn’t a fluke. He’s maintained elite production in the postseason, guiding the Thunder through tough matchups and clutch moments.
If Oklahoma City wins the championship, it will be seen as the culmination of an extraordinarily quick rebuild — but even more so, it will be the crowning achievement of SGA’s rise from promising prospect to superstar leader.
Legacy Implications
A title in 2025, coupled with 32.7 PPG in the regular season, would force the NBA world to reconsider the historical context of individual greatness. It would put Shai in conversations typically reserved for legends — players who not only dominated statistically but also translated that dominance into ultimate team success.
It would also challenge the long-standing narrative that high-volume scoring and team championships are often mutually exclusive. Typically, teams with extremely high scorers have been viewed as too dependent on one player to succeed at the highest level — think James Harden’s Rockets, Russell Westbrook’s triple-double seasons, or even Allen Iverson’s 2001 campaign. They lit up the stat sheet but fell short of a ring.
SGA would flip that script.
He wouldn’t just be the league’s scoring leader — he’d be a scoring leader who led by example, who elevated his teammates, and who finished the season as a champion.
Conclusion
If the Thunder complete their playoff journey with a championship, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will make NBA history. His 32.7 PPG would become the highest scoring average ever for a player on a title-winning team — a record that would cement his place among the game’s greats.
But beyond the numbers, it would represent a new era of basketball: one where a young superstar can carry a young team all the way to the top, not by conforming to old molds, but by redefining what leadership and dominance can look like in today’s NBA.
The Thunder’s title hopes are about more than just basketball — they’re about changing what’s possible. And if they succeed, SGA won’t just be remembered as the league’s leading scorer. He’ll be remembered as the leader who rewrote the rules.
