Remarks by Hall of Famers reinforce unjust treatment of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

The OKC Thunder are, without a doubt, one of the top teams in the entire league heading into the 2024-25 season. If this wasn't made clear by their dominant 57-win, number-one-seeded finish to last year's campaign, it's a sentiment that should certainly seep in when considering they currently boast the second-best odds of winning the 2025 NBA Finals.

Though this lofty status was ultimately the result of a full-fledged team effort, leading the charge along the way has been 26-year-old franchise cornerstone, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

With his deep bag of tricks on the offensive end that even has his peers across the league envious and his awe-inspiring efforts on the less glamorous side of the ball, the combo guard is without question one of the game's best all-around talents and his two All-Star and All-NBA nods accompanied by his two consecutive top-five finishes in the MVP race only strengthen such a status.

Yet, despite his electrifying on-court efforts, per-game counting stats that resemble that of a prime Michael Jordan, and the historical heights his play has led the Thunder to over the last couple of years, it appears Gilgeous-Alexander is still not recognized as one of the game's true superstars, and a recent episode of Ticket & The Truth serves as the latest reminder of this.

Thunder cornerstone Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stays out of superstar list

When discussing who qualifies for the criteria of "NBA superstar", hosts and NBA Hall of Famers, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, rattled off a quick list of 10 active players who fit the mold.

Unsurprisingly, considering how frequently he's undervalued in such discussions, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was not one of the names mentioned.

Heck, even when talking about "borderline" candidates for the lucrative moniker, the former All-Stars would go on to discuss the likes of Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Brunson, and Zion Williamson over SGA who, though are undeniably sensational players, have yet to accomplish the feats (consisting of both individual accolades and team success) the Thunder stud has.

Incredibly enough, it took the duo nearly 42 minutes to finally throw Shai's name into the conversation, though, to Pierce, he's "too young" to be seriously considered as being on a similar level as the others mentioned.

The most infuriating part about this reasoning mentioned is that he's older than guys like Luka Doncic (25), Ja Morant (25), and Anthony Edwards (23), and is the same age as Jayson Tatum (26), all of whom were included on the list.

While Garnett and Pierce did both agree that the Thunder receive "so much disrespect," ironically they, themselves, were perpetuating the kind of discourse that leaves them consistently overlooked.

Does SGA have the same thunderous dunking skills as Anthony Edwards, the "eyes in the back of his head" passing talents of Luka Doncic, or the Defensive Player of the Year pedigree that Giannis Antetokounmpo has? No.

However, despite Garnett and Pierce's primary criteria being entertainment, it must be understood that receiving the label of NBA superstar take far more than just being the funnest player to watch -- just ask Tim Duncan.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stays disrespected when it comes to conversations relating to the league's elite players, and this latest episode of Ticket & The Truth is just another example of how an onlooker's desire to be entertained masks the otherworldly value the Thunder guard's talents provide to his team.

Is he a walking highlight reel like Ja Morant, LeBron James, or Stephen Curry? In the eyes of the producers at SportsCenter, probably not.

That said, to suggest that this should disqualify him from being thrown into the superstar conversation is absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately, it seems to be the only logicial reason for why he continues to stay on the outside looking in.