Austin Rivers makes a bold claim that SGA is “the biggest star.”
The The Oklahoma City Thunder are on fire to begin the 2025-26 NBA season, is currently 23-1 heading into this week’s NBA Cup Knockout Round matchup against the Phoenix Suns. Thunder were headed by Shay Gilge Alexander, who is currently among the frontrunners to win what would be his second straight MVP award this season.
Recently, former NBA point guard Austin Rivers had bold move as did Gilgeous-Alexander’s profile among the league’s biggest stars.
“If he had been more active on social media, born in America and played in a hot market, he would have been the biggest star in the league,” Rivers told NBA Courtside on X, formerly Twitter, via NBC Sports.
Indeed, Gilgeous-Alexander hails from Canada, which could play a role in how receptive American audiences have been to him so far.
It’s unclear where Rivers takes the role of “active on social media,” as Gilgeous-Alexander has become known for his poetic Instagram captions over the years, but it’s certainly safe to say that had he played in a bigger market than Oklahoma City, his stardom would have been much more significant.
Still, Gilgeous-Alexander certainly seems happy where he is right now, and for good reason: The Thunder are currently on pace to break the NBA record for wins in a season, set by the Golden State Warriors in 2015-16, and they’ve also shown they’re much more than a one-man game, despite a 30-point win at SGA this week and a couple of underdogs this week.
It should be noted that the Thunder have benefited from a surprisingly easy schedule to start the year, but there’s no reason to think they won’t be able to maintain a pace at least somewhat comparable to this as the season progresses.
2025-12-09 19:10:00
