The Oklahoma City Thunder have officially risen into the upper echelon of the Western Conference. Led by MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder are poising themselves as a legitimate threat to make a deep playoff run. Gilgeous-Alexander has steadily become one of the NBA's elite players and a true franchise building block. On Wednesday in a Thunder win against the New York Knicks, Gilgeous-Alexander joined only Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson as the only players in NBA history to have ten straight games of at least 25 points and two steals as per Thunder member of basketball operations Royce Young.

In the Thunder win against the Knicks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 36 points, seven rebounds eight assists and three steals. He shot 13-23 from the field, 2-5 from three point range and 8-9 from the free throw line. Since the 1973-74 season, only Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson had accomplished this feat before.

To this point, Gilgeous-Alexander has been averaging 31.0 points per game, 5.7 rebounds, 6.4 assists and a league-leading 2.8 steals. He's been averaging splits of 54.2 percent shooting from the field, 29.7 percent shooting from the three point line and 91 percent shooting from the free throw line.

He's suited up in 27 games and is playing a little over 34 minutes per game. Behind Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder are 20-9 and in third place in the Western Conference standings. They have won seven of their last ten games. As it stands, they are only two and a half games back of the West leading Minnesota Timberwolves and one and a half games back of the second seed Denver Nuggets.