It seems that modern-day NBA players are playing longer than they ever have before. From LeBron James and Chris Paul both still playing in their 40s, to the 37-year-old Steph Curry recently stating that he's "nowhere close" to retiring, professional careers are steadily expanding well into the double-decade range. OKC Thunder centerpiece Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn't keen on mimicking this trend.
At least, that's what he hinted at during a recent sit-down with GQ Magazine's Yang-Yi Goh, where he said that, while he believes he physically could, he "a hundred percent" won't still be playing into his 40s.
The reason: He wants to be more of a family man.
“I won’t want to miss that much of my kid’s life. 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,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And there’s a certain point in your career where you reach your peak... 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.”
OKC Thunder star suggests he likely won't be playing into his 40s
Gilgeous-Alexander finds himself fresh off a career-best campaign, one where he posted electrifying averages of 32.7 points (league-high), 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game on 51.9 percent shooting from the floor and 37.5 percent shooting from deep.
Along the way, he also became just the second player in league history to post at least 30.0 points per game on 50.0 percent shooting in three consecutive seasons and the fourth player to win the scoring title, regular season MVP, and Finals MVP all in the same year.
Though hearing someone coming off of such a historic run state that there's an already understood expiration date to his playing career may be a bit unsettling for some fans, it's important to realize that, at just 27 years old, there's still plenty of years left for him to play before thoughts of retirement start to pop into his mind.
As things currently stand, with Gilgeous-Alexander at the helm, the Thunder appear to be on the verge of becoming the league's next great dynasty.
They've already attained their first title following their epic 2025 NBA Finals run, have a slew of both first and second-round draft picks coming their way over the next several years to help flesh out their roster while keeping the payroll down, and, following Sam Presti's offseason spending spree, have locked down Oklahoma City's Big Three of Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and SGA through 2031.
By the time his recently inked four-year extension reaches its expiration, the perennial All-Star will still only be in his early 30s and, presumably, will be looking for at least one more multi-year agreement before calling it quits.
So while Gilgeous-Alexander's comments suggest he has a max of 13 years remaining in the association, with the fact that OKC's core players are just entering into the prime of their careers, and that he strives "to be better than Kobe," instead of counting down the days toward the end, Thunder fans should be excited for what could and should be to come throughout this capped span.