Wednesday night, Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander provided yet another reason why he's currently the front-runner to take home the 2025 NBA MVP award
Already amid a campaign that's on pace toward thrusting him into the history books, in his latest showing against the Utah Jazz the point guard nabbed himself a new personal best in the scoring department, as he went on to drop a career-high 54 points en route to a 123-114 win.
THE FIRST 50-PT GAME OF @shaiglalex CAREER! https://t.co/TxMmnH0PDI pic.twitter.com/DIFcavzvbm
— NBA (@NBA) January 23, 2025
A truly mesmerizing feat, especially when considering all the negative chatter regarding his play earlier that same day, Gilgeous-Alexander is now the 10 player on the season to have dropped over 50 points in a game and is just the fifth to score 54 or more.
Yet, despite this scoring accomplishment, the Thunder star seems to be a bit underwhelmed with his performance on the night, as he dropped a shockingly disappointed assessment of his game during his post-game media availability.
Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander underwhelmed by career night
Asked by a reporter whether "it felt like" he dropped 54 points, Gilgeous-Alexander quickly stated "it did not," and stressed that, when looking back on the night, he feels he fell short of his expected level of play.
"I felt like I could have had a lot more and I know that's going to sound very spoiled but I feel like I didn't have that great of a night. I left a few on the table," Gilgeous-Alexander said.
Interestingly enough, before even getting to the podium himself, coach Mark Daigneault seemed to have been on the same page as his star centerpiece. The headman acknowledged that he feels SGA didn't necessarily play his best brand of basketball, particularly in the early stages of the contest.
What's scary about this, at least for opposing ball clubs, is that even on a less-than-ideal night as the Thunder star believes it was, he's still capable of going out and dropping 50+ points while adding on a ridiculous stat sheet stuffing log line of 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks in 37 minutes of action.
Easily the most noteworthy comment from his presser, however, was when he said "There's room to improve, and that's a good thing," which should be music to a fan's ears, for it shows that even after a career-best performance the face of the franchise is still looking for ways to get better.
With his career night, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander now holds sole possession of the scoring title with 32.0 points while also registering 6.1 assists, 5.4 rebounds, 2.1 steals, and 1.1 blocks on 53.0 percent shooting from the floor.