Despite leading the Western Conference standings and ascending to becoming a championship contender, MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder are not playing on Christmas Day. The association will showcase its best marquee matchups. Amid Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder's seven-game winning streak, a reporter asked the All-NBA guard his thoughts on Oklahoma City being left off the Christmas Day slate of games.

Gilgeous-Alexander was honest in his response.

“Disappointed for sure,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I'd love to play on Christmas Day and I think we're that caliber of a team. The NBA makes [its] decisions; you can't slight them for it. The ball's in our court to prove to them why we deserve to play on that day. And we have a whole 82 games season and the playoffs to do so.”

Given how the Thunder have dominated the Western Conference, holding down the top spot for most of 2024-25, it'd be a shock not to see them left off one of the five games on tap for Christmas Day.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander says ‘no excuses' led to Thunder streak

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Despite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and the Oklahoma City Thunder's grueling travel schedule recently, back-to-back wins against the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat extended their winning streak to seven straight. For Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder's ‘no excuses' mantra led to the focus they needed to seal a pair of single-margin victories after losing the NBA Cup finals to the Milwaukee Bucks. 

In the likely scenario of Thunder picking up a “scheduled” loss, as many teams face throughout the 82-game regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander didn't want that for his team and did everything in his power to avoid it.

“We didn't want to make an excuse,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We, I like to say, have the best jobs in the world. It sounds crazy, but it's a little bit spoiled. We played basketball two nights in a row and got paid to do so. It's so insane. Do you know what I mean? We have an amazing opportunity. We're blessed to be in this position, and personally, I love playing basketball. So, I didn't see the opportunity as insane, I saw it as something I get to do, and I love it.”

Williams scored a season-high 33 points on 12-of-25 attempts, including 5-for-7 from the free-throw line. Gilgeous-Alexander added 25 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. The Thunder will look to extend their winning streak to eight when they host the Wizards on Monday.