By Joel Lorenzi The Athletic
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s consistency is now marked by history.

With a third-quarter pull-up jumper Thursday night against the Boston Celtics, the Oklahoma City Thunder guard clinched his 127th consecutive regular-season game of scoring at least 20 points, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain’s previous record set between 1962 and 1963.

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Gilgeous-Alexander’s historic streak, which does not include playoff games, has now survived for 497 days, stretching across two regular seasons. The run began on Nov. 1, 2024 with a 30-point performance in Portland, seemingly innocuous then for a player who’s averaged at least 30.1 points in each of the past four seasons.

But that November night marked the beginning of his reign and trek toward a number that seemed impossible when next to Chamberlain’s name for 63 years.

“I don’t know that people know how hard it is to do that,” Nikola Jokic said Monday after Gilgeous-Alexander tied Chamberlain’s mark against the Denver Nuggets. “To make 20 points in 10 (straight) games, not 120, whatever it is, it’s special. He’s a special player.”

Gilgeous-Alexander wasted little time in his record-setting game, tallying 10 points in the first quarter. After taking his usual rest, he returned halfway through the second quarter and scored seven more points while helping the Thunder trim a 12-point deficit to 3 at halftime. After missing his first chance to set the record when a stepback 3-point attempt caromed off the front rim, Gilgeous-Alexander tallied his 18th and 19th points at the free-throw line.

On the Thunder’s next possession, as the crowd began to rise, Gilgeous-Alexander caught the ball in the middle of the floor, paused, then hit a jumper over Boston’s Baylor Scheierman to set the record.

It was fitting that Gilgeous-Alexander exceeded the 20-point mark with plenty of time to spare. He’s scored his 20th point before the fourth quarter in 116 of his 127 games during this run.

Before Gilgeous-Alexander, the closest challenger to Chamberlain was, of course, Chamberlain himself. A month removed from an ejection that cut his 126-game streak short, Chamberlain embarked on a 92-game streak of consecutive 20-point games that long held second in the standings.

The player with the next-most 20-point games was Hall of Fame guard Oscar Robertson, who rattled off 79 consecutive contests with 20 points or more. Kevin Durant and Michael Jordan’s longest streaks were 72 games. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar managed 71 in a row. Kobe Bryant had 63 straight. LeBron James, who only severed a near 19-year streak of double-digit games earlier this season, once tallied 49 consecutive 20-point games. Kawhi Leonard, who’s reignited the LA Clippers after their 6-21 start to the season, holds the longest active non-SGA 20-point streak at 44 games.

“I love players who care about leaving their mark in the history books. You can tell Shai cares about it,” Durant said Tuesday night. “Obviously, he’s a team-first player. But you can tell he wants to be great. He wants to be considered one of the greatest of all time.”

Entering Thursday night with averages of 31.7 points (second in the NBA), 4.5 rebounds and 6.6 assists while shooting 55.1 percent from the field and 38.3 percent from the 3-point line, Gilgeous-Alexander is considered the favorite to win a second consecutive MVP award.

Seemingly sleepwalking toward a record streak, which has highlighted his constancy, should certainly help.

“He’s not a guy you have to push a lot of buttons for,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said before Thursday’s game. “He finds the buttons on his own.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.