On Tuesday evening, the Oklahoma City Thunder started out their season with a bang by defeating the San Antonio Spurs on the road in comfortable fashion. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the best player on the court in this one by a wide margin, finishing the game with an efficient 32 points and an epic barrage of contested jumpers to keep San Antonio at bay.
On Wednesday, former NBA big man DeMarcus Cousins took to FanDuel's Run It Back show to drop a bold take about SGA in the wake of the win.
“SGA's the real deal… Possibly top-5 all-time as far as his position… it might become some uncomfortable conversations,” he said, per Run It Back on X, formerly Twitter.
It's hard to pick out five point guards who have had a more dominant peak than SGA has reached over the last few years, winning two straight MVP's and a Finals MVP and championship in 2025. Many Thunder fans maintain that the team would have been destined for another ring last year had Ajay Mitchell and Jalen Williams not gotten hurt in the playoffs, and they provided some evidence for that claim by dismantling the Spurs on Tuesday on the road, the same team that beat them in last year's Western Conference Finals.
Article Continues BelowSGA figures to be squarely in the middle of his prime entering this season, and he looks to have only gotten better this offseason, if that's possible, based on his performance on Tuesday against the Spurs, despite a relatively quiet game from some key members of his supporting cast, including Williams and Chet Holmgren.
In any case, the Thunder will next hit the floor on Thursday at home vs the Denver Nuggets.