As Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander prepares for the 2025-26 season, hoping to achieve more success like last year, he recently talked about his tentative retirement plans. With speculation on the Thunder guard in Gilgeous-Alexander doing enough already for the Hall of Fame, there seems to be a set age at which the star will call it a career.
In an interview with GQ, Gilgeous-Alexander was asked about the playing careers of such like LeBron James and Chris Paul, who are playing into their 40s. While the 27-year-old “definitely” believes he can do it, he would express without hesitation that he “won’t, a hundred percent.”
While there isn't a specific number in mind for Gilgeous-Alexander, there is a baseline for when he believes he'll hang up his boots.
“There’s no telling,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But I promise you it won’t be 40.”
After winning his first MVP and NBA title where he averaged 32.7 points, 6.4 assists, and five rebounds per game while shooting 51.9 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from three-point range. A main reason for feeling this way is that Gilgeous-Alexander doesn't want to “miss that much of my kid's life.”
“I won’t want to miss that much of my kid’s life,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I won’t want to be away and miss his first basketball game every year, his first soccer game, football game, piano lesson, chess lesson, whatever it is,” he says.
Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on when he would retire
There's no denying that for the Thunder to repeat as NBA champions, Gilgeous-Alexander will once again have to be the engine offensively to lead them to the promised land. While there are a plethora of years to go before close to reaching 40 years old, Gilgeous-Alexander would stress that once he sees that he has reached his “peak,” he would retire.
“And there’s a certain point in your career where you reach your peak. I don’t fault guys for still playing,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They love the game. But I just feel like I play this game, ultimately, to see what the best version of me can be. Once I figure that out and I start going down, then it’s like, Okay, well, what am I playing for now? As soon as that happens, I’ll be on the first ship out.”
Gilgeous-Alexander and Oklahoma City are looking to go back-to-back with the regular season starting on Oct. 21 against the Houston Rockets.
