Following a loss in the Western Conference Finals to the Spurs, SGA should be extra motivated this upcoming season.
As he enters his ninth NBA season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will look to extend multiple active streaks during the 2026-27 campaign:
- 20+ Point Games: On March 12, Gilgeous-Alexander posted his 127th consecutive regular-season game with at least 20 points, breaking the record streak held by Wilt Chamberlain for 63 years. SGA kept the streak alive for the remainder of the season and will look to extend his record of 140 straight games this season on opening night.
- 60+ Win Seasons: Gilgeous-Alexander has led the Thunder to the best record in the NBA the past two seasons, posting 68 wins in 2024-25 and 64 wins in 2025-26. Can OKC be the first team since the Golden State Warriors (2014-15 through 2016-17) to post three straight 60+ win seasons?
- Kia NBA MVPs: SGA has earned the league’s top individual honor in each of the past two seasons. If he wins it again in 2026-27, he would become just the fourth player in NBA history to accomplish the MVP 3-peat — and the first to do so in over 40 years. Here’s the list: Larry Bird (1984, 1985 & 1986), Wilt Chamberlain (1966, 1967 & 1968) and Bill Russell (1961, 1962 & 1963).
With those pursuits in play as the 2026-27 season gets underway, here are 10 can’t-miss games for Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder, listed in chronological order:
1. Rematch of 2026 Western Conference Finals
- Thunder vs. Spurs – Tues, Oct. 20 (9:30 p.m. ET, NBC)
Between the regular season and playoffs, the Thunder and Spurs met 12 times last season — and every one of those games was a must-see, culminating in a win-or-go-home Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals. The Spurs prevailed in that game to reach the NBA Finals and end OKC’s title defense. The Thunder do not have to wait long to try to avenge that loss, as these rivals meet in the nightcap of NBC’s season-opening tripleheader. While this list will feature 10 different opponents, the Spurs-Thunder matchups later in the season — Feb. 11 on Prime and March 14 on ABC — are also must-see TV.
2. SGA battles Jokić
- Nuggets vs. Thunder – Thurs, Oct. 22 (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
This MVP vs. MVP clash features the last two winners of the Kia Most Valuable Player — SGA and Nikola Jokić have combined to win five of the last six awards — while also being a rematch of the 2025 Western Conference Semifinals, which was won by the Thunder. This is also OKC’s home opener and its first game at Paycom Center since that season-ending Game 7 loss to the Spurs last May.
3. Teammates turned foes
- Hawks vs. Thunder – Wed, Nov. 18 (8 p.m. ET, League Pass)
While the Thunder returned much of their core from the past two seasons, they parted ways with three players from their 2025 title team: Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins to Atlanta, and Isaiah Joe to Detroit. Dort and Wiggins will return to OKC for the first time since those summer trades when the Hawks visit the Thunder. On a personal level, this is also a family affair for Gilgeous-Alexander, as he will face his cousin — reigning Kia Most Improved Player Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
4. SGA vs. Cade
- Pistons vs. Thunder – Tues, Dec. 22 (8 p.m. ET, NBC)
In addition to welcoming Joe back to OKC for the first time since the summer trade that sent him to Detroit, this is a matchup between the two teams who won their respective conference standings a year ago — OKC in the West at 64-18 and Detroit in the East at 60-22. In his lone game against the Pistons last season, Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 47 points, which tied for his second-highest scoring game of the season. Keep an eye on the SGA vs. Cade Cunningham matchup as the two All-NBA First Team selections go head-to-head.
5. SGA vs. LaMelo on Christmas
- Thunder vs. Minnesota – Fri, Dec. 25 (8 p.m. ET, ABC)
Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder unwrap a Christmas Day trip to Minnesota to face the Timberwolves. This is a rematch of the 2025 Western Conference Finals, which the Thunder won in five games to advance to the Finals, where they won their first title of the OKC era. However, there is a new twist to this Northwest Division clash — the Wolves’ addition of LaMelo Ball, who will go head-to-head with SGA in a marquee point guard matchup.
6. SGA vs. Steph
- Thunder vs. Warriors – Sun, Jan. 24 (8:30 p.m. ET, NBC)
NBC’s “Sunday Night Basketball” is all about highlighting the marquee matchups and the league’s brightest stars in the national television spotlight. There is no better matchup to tip off Season 2 of Sunday Night Basketball than Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Stephen Curry as the Thunder visit the Warriors. It’s a battle of two elite scoring guards who get their points in different ways, as illustrated in the shot chart heat maps below.
7. Rematch of 2025 NBA Finals
- Pacers vs. Thunder – Fri, Feb. 5 (9:30 p.m. ET, Prime)
A rematch of the 2025 NBA Finals, which the Thunder won in an epic seven-game series behind Gilgeous-Alexander’s Finals MVP performance. Last season, Gilgeous-Alexander had two of his three highest-scoring games against the Pacers — a career-best 55 points in a 2OT thriller in the second game of the season, and a 47-point game on Jan. 23. However, that January contest was the only defeat OKC suffered in the eight games SGA scored 40+ points. Both of last year’s matchups came against a shorthanded Pacers squad, as Tyrese Haliburton recovered from a torn Achilles suffered in Game 7 of the 2025 Finals.
8. SGA at MSG
- Thunder vs. Knicks – Thurs, Feb. 25 (7:30 p.m. ET, Prime)
It’s a champ vs. champ showdown as the 2025 champion Thunder visit the 2026 champion Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The key matchup will be at the point guard position where the last two Finals MVPs and last two Kia Clutch Player of the Year winners — Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Brunson — face off. Last season, SGA led all players in clutch points during the regular season (175), but it was Brunson that led that category in the playoffs (38).
9. SGA takes on Los Angeles
- Thunder vs. Lakers – Sat, Mar. 6 (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
The Thunder visit the Lakers as part of “NBA Saturday Primetime” on ABC. At the center of this showdown in Los Angeles is the matchup between the last two players to win the NBA scoring title: Gilgeous-Alexander (32.7 points per game) in 2024-25 and Luka Dončić (33.5 ppg) in 2025-26. The Thunder have won the last five meetings with the Lakers and will look to keep that streak going in 2026-27.
10. SGA homecoming
- Thunder vs. Minnesota – Wed, Mar. 10 (7:30 p.m. ET, League Pass)
It’s Canada vs. Canada in Canada when Gilgeous-Alexander faces off with his Canadian National Team teammate RJ Barrett when the Thunder visit the Raptors in Gilgeous-Alexander’s hometown of Toronto. Gilgeous-Alexander and Barrett were Canada’s top two scorers in both the 2024 Olympics and the 2023 FIBA World Cup, which saw Canada beat the United States and finish third in the competition, earning Canada’s first World Cup medal in team history.
