OKC Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Have Massive Showcase Sunday

The Oklahoma City Thunder have a chance to make a team-wide statement, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a shot at an individual one. On one of the biggest regular season games in recent Thunder memory.

Mar 5, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) reacts during the fourth quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

You always have to be where your feet are, stay 0-0, stack days and all the other Mark Daigneault-isms that have transcended coach speak and turned into a living breathing idenity for this Thunder team that can tangibly be felt througout the year - and in other markets would otherwise be cast off as strickly lip service.

Oklahoma City has prove that those are more than just catch phrases but the backbone of what its 52-11 record is built on, sitting 11 games up on the No. 2 seeded Los Angeles Lakers.

However, outside of its bubble the reality remains that Sunday's afternoon affair against Denver is more than just one game out of 82 (or 83, in the Thunder's case). This marquee slot on ABC is a chance for this young Thunder squad to make a statement and superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to lay claim to the NBA's Most Valuable Player award.

“I just don’t listen to them. They pay people to go on TV and entertain. They pay us to go out there and play basketball and try to win games. Focus on my job and let those guys do their job," Defensive ace Alex Caruso said following Saturday's practice when asked how he blocks out the hoopla surrounding a game like Sunday.

For Oklahoma City as a whole, beating the Denver Nuggets in a showcase game on National Television would force a group of media members who otherwise only discuss the Thunder to poke holes in their game to acknowledge its regular season success and cleanly visualize a path to postseason prosperity.

It goes deeper for superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who is caught in one of the most competitive MVP races the league has seen in recent years. Going blow for blow with Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic who continues to finish games with stat lines that without video evidence would be treated like fables.

in Gilgeous-Alexander's last game? A 41 point effort to topple the Memphis Grizzlies on the road just a day after his fourth 50 point game. For Jokic? The first 30-20-20 game in NBA history as the Nuggets down the Suns.

The Nuggets star has already brought home a trio of MVP awards but is not facing the same voter fatigue other legends have in the past, the Thunder's candidate is seeking his first award.

Jokic's historic night Friday swung the conversation dramatically; whoever produces the best game on Sunday in front of the NBA world could end the race - right or wrong.

Each player is worthy of the MVP award, perhaps the most interesting wrinkle to all of this: What it means for the history and the future of the honor.

No matter what happens in a short few hours - made even shorter by daylight savings time - this will be a special contest inside the Paycom Center. A National TV stage, a fight for immortality, the Thunder's last MVP winner on the opposite side and a chance to put another exclamation point on this season.

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