Shai Gilgeous-Alexander buried a step-back 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds remaining on Monday night to beat the Denver Nuggets, 129-126. In the process, he tied one of the more untouchable scoring records in NBA history.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s 35-point performance gave him 126 consecutive games with at least 20 points, matching Wilt Chamberlain’s mark set between October 1961 and January 1963. No other player in league history has come close.
How Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Tied Wilt Chamberlain’s 63-Year-Old Scoring Record
Gilgeous-Alexander went 14-of-21 from the field, 3-of-7 from deep and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. He added a career-high 15 assists and 9 rebounds without committing a single turnover.
That combination put him in rare air. Gilgeous-Alexander became just the second player in NBA history to record at least 35 points and 15 assists with 0 turnovers in a single game. The only other player to do it was LeBron James.
Chamberlain set his record during the most prolific individual scoring stretch the sport has ever seen. He averaged 49.2 points per game during those 126 contests, routinely dropping 50 and 60. He scored 100 points in one of them. The streak only ended because he was ejected 4 minutes into a game in St. Louis, finishing with 6 points after arguing a foul call.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reacting to his game winner against the Nuggets:
“I have answers to the test, but I gotta see the questions first.”
— Hater Report (@HaterReport) March 10, 2026
Gilgeous-Alexander’s path looks nothing like that. He’s averaging 31.7 points this season on 55% shooting from the field. Chamberlain overpowered the threshold through sheer volume. Gilgeous-Alexander has maintained it through efficiency and an almost mechanical consistency that makes 20 points feel like a formality.
His streak began Nov. 1, 2024, and has survived an abdominal injury that sidelined him for nine games earlier this season. Missed games don’t break the streak under NBA rules. The fact that he picked up right where he left off after sitting out says everything about how routine this level of scoring has become for him.
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The Oklahoma City Thunder trailed by as many as 8 points in the fourth quarter on Monday. Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets pushed the game to a tie at 126 with 8.5 seconds left after a four-point play. That should have been the story of the game.
Instead, Gilgeous-Alexander took the inbound, drove right, stopped on a dime, and pulled up for a step-back 3 that went straight through the net. The shot sealed history.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s NBA MVP Case Is Settled
The timing could not have been better for Gilgeous-Alexander’s case as the league’s most valuable player. He won the award last season after leading the Thunder to a 68-14 record and their first championship since relocating to Oklahoma City. He’s the clear favorite to win it again.
Oklahoma City owns the best record in the Western Conference at 51-15. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31.7 points, 6.6 assists, and 4.5 rebounds while shooting over 55% from the field. The numbers are elite. The winning is elite. And now the signature moments are piling up in a way that separates a great season from a legacy-defining one.
Beating the Nuggets with a game-winner on the same night that he matched a Chamberlain record is the kind of performance that stays in voters’ memories. It’s one thing to compile impressive counting stats over an 82-game season. It’s another to deliver arguably the best game of his career on the biggest stage available in March.
Gilgeous-Alexander will have a chance to break Chamberlain’s record outright in his next game. If he scores 20 points, the record that has stood since the Kennedy administration will belong to a 27-year-old from Hamilton, Ontario.
The Thunder are built to win a second straight title. They have the depth, the defense, and the coaching. What Monday night proved is that they also have a player who rises to moments that haven’t existed in 63 years and makes them feel inevitable.
