All good things come to an end. At least Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did that on his own terms. With a chance to extend his historic 20-point streak with just one outside jumper in the final minute, the two-time MVP winner elected to call it a night.
The Oklahoma City Thunder scrapped by with an ugly 96-84 win over the Denver Nuggets. Gilgeous-Alexander mustered up 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting. And for the first time since Nov. 2024, he fell short of eclipsing 20-plus points in a regular-season matchup.
When Gilgeous-Alexander only had two points at halftime, his legendary streak was in jeopardy. The outside shot didn't fall as he was just 3-of-11. But he had a chance at the end to keep it going. That was initially the plan. Until he saw the Nuggets
wave the white flag with 1:43 left in the fourth quarter.
Now, Gilgeous-Alexander's streak ends at an NBA-record 141 consecutive games. He surpassed Wilt Chamberlain's record late in the 2025-26 regular season. Now, he sits atop the record book as the most consistent high-volume scorer in league history. Here's what the Thunder said about the record and his decision to end it:
Mark Daigneault
"I just have to note, he asked out of the game at the end of the game. He's got a historic streak going. Which is a remarkable streak, obviously. I just think that for the class that it shows and the perspective that it shows for him to say, 'Hey, I'm out now. The game's calling for me to be subbed out of the game.' That was his substitution. Of all the things that I admire about him, that's towards the top of the list in terms of moments that I appreciate about him. It shows tremendous class as a competitor."
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
"I was gonna go out in there and then I saw that they had sub, so I was just like, 'We should sub, too.' I feel like you always treat the game with respect. God willing, I have many more games to start on a streak. So it's not the end of the world."
Chet Holmgren
"I mean, I asked him. I said, 'You want to shoot some threes right here?' And he's like, 'Nah.' And then he went up to Mark and subbed himself out. So he's a better man than me. Obviously, shooting some pull-up threes. But I think it was a selfless moment. He's a selfless guy. He's one of the hardest workers that I know. Shows up out there and so does his leadership. He does that in a great way."
"I don't think people understand how challenging it is. Not only to be talented enough to do it, but also, he's never sprained an ankle and missed the rest of a game early on. He's never gotten ejected early on. Just the physical and mental endurance that it takes to do something like that is extremely impressive. It's not surprising. If anybody's able to do it, it's him."
Jalen Williams
"He's a smart man. The last minute of the game is probably only bad stuff can happen with that. So I think it just speaks to how well he keeps stuff in perspective. He walked into the locker room and said, 'I'll just restart.' So there you go. 'I got 80 games left,' what he said."
"I mean, it's extremely difficult. That's why there's only one person that's done it. So I think honestly, if you don't play basketball, you probably don't even realize how crazy that is. People in video games don't do that. As somebody that had 20 tonight, to know what it took to do that and then to do that for 141 games, it's very impressive. That one will be untouched. I can confidently say that one will be untouched for a while. I mean, it's literally a crazy stat. I'm amazed people don't really pick up on that a lot more. That is an insane stat."
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Several OKC Thunder players react to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ending 20-point streak
