The Oklahoma City Thunder have been on fire to start to the 2025-26 NBA season, currently sitting at 23-1 ahead of this week's NBA Cup knockout round matchup against the Phoenix Suns. The Thunder have been led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is currently among the frontrunners to win what would be his second straight MVP award this season.
Recently, former NBA point guard Austin Rivers had a bold take as it pertained to Gilgeous-Alexander's profile among the league's biggest stars.
“If he was more active on social media, born in America and played in hot market he’d be the biggest star in the league by a landslide,” said Rivers, per NBA Courtside on X, formerly Twitter, via NBC Sports.
Indeed, Gilgeous-Alexander hails from Canada, which could play a role in how receptive American audiences have been to him thus far.
It's unclear where Rivers is getting the “active on social media” part from, as Gilgeous-Alexander has become known for his poetic Instagram captions over the years, but it's certainly safe to say that if he were playing in a bigger market than Oklahoma City, his star would be quite a bit more notable.
Still, Gilgeous-Alexander certainly seems happy where he is now, and for good reason: the Thunder are currently on pace to shatter the NBA record for wins in a season, set by the Golden State Warriors in 2015-16, and they've also shown that they're far more than a one-man show, winning by 30 points earlier this week despite SGA and several other players missing the game due to injury.
It should be noted that the Thunder have benefited from a startlingly easy schedule to open up the year, but there's no reason to think they won't be able to keep up a pace at least somewhat comparable to this as the season progresses.
