Next ‘face’ of the NBA? Thunder star continues to make his case

OKLAHOMA CITY ― As LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant get closer to retirement from the NBA, focus is on who the next face of the league is.

‘Over time those stars are made on the floor, not by the league office,’ NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said at the start of the Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers.

Game by game and series by series of the 2025 playoffs, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has emerged as the player who can slide into that position.

The 2024-25 MVP, Gilgeous-Alexander continues to deliver amazing, memorable performances.

He scored 34 points on 11-for-21 shooting, delivered eight assists, collected five rebounds and had four steals in Oklahoma City’s 123-107 victory against Indiana in Game 2, helping the Thunder tie the Finals at 1-1.

‘Unsurprising at this point,’ Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. ‘It’s just kind of what he does. He just continues to progress and improve and rise to every occasion that he puts himself in and that we put ourselves in. I thought his floor game tonight was really, really in a great rhythm. I thought everyone played better individually, and I thought we played better collectively. I think that was a by-product.’

He has 72 points in the Finals, the most any player has scored in his first two Finals games.

‘I’m being myself,’ Gilgeous-Alexander said. ‘I don’t think I tried to reinvent the wheel or step up to the plate with a different mindset. Just try to attack the game the right way. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that so far.’

He has scored at least 30 points in 13 of Oklahoma City’s 18 playoff games, including 30 or more in nine of his past 10 games.

He is averaging 30.4 points and 47.4% shooting, 6.8 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals in the playoffs and is carrying the Thunder closer and closer to the franchise’s first championship since it relocated from Seattle in 2008.

‘Shai, you can mark down 34 points before they even get on the plane tomorrow, you know, for the next game,’ Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. ‘The guy’s going to score. We’ve got to find ways to make it as tough as possible on him.’

That’s a difficult job. He gets to the free throw line, he passes to teammates who can make shots and his speed with the dribble allows him to get free for mid-range shots or attempts at the rim.

Of Gilgeous-Alexander’s eight assists in Game 2, six were on assists to five different players for 3-pointers. ‘That’s an area – the scoring and efficiency gets a lot of shine – he’s really steadily improved as a playmaker,’ Daigneault said.

Said Gilgeous-Alexander: ‘I don’t play in space as much as I do without having them out there. I don’t get open as much as I do without having the screeners out there. Whether it’s a slide-out or a set, those guys are the reason why we’re as good of a team as we are. I just add to it.’

He had 19 of his points in the second half, including 12 points and three assists in the third quarter as the Thunder maintained their intensity.

‘When your best player is out there and he trusts you to make a play, it just gives you more confidence,’ Thunder All-Star Jalen Williams said. ‘He understands that. I think that’s one of the roles he’s gotten really good at and grown at, and it just makes our teams better.’

Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, wears fashionable sunglasses to his postgame press conference, like a movie star. A confident, thoughtful and modest movie star. Comfortable being the leading man without it going to his head.

At his MVP announcement and throughout the playoffs, he has mentioned over and over his desire to win.

‘No one-man show achieves what I’m trying to achieve with this game,’ he said.

On the court, off the court and with his words, it looks and sounds like a player who can be the face of the league.

‘It’s my expectation whoever comes out of this championship series,’ Silver said, ‘will rise to the next level almost automatically.’