John Calipari produced several first-round selections from the University of Kentucky to the National Basketball Association, but he has now produced a scoring champion in the league.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a former Southeastern Conference Champion and SEC Tournament MVP, has ended his seventh NBA season as the league’s scoring champion. Alexander recorded a career-high 32.7 points per game in his sixth year with the Oklahoma City Thunder, leading the NBA. He paced the Thunder to the best record in the league (68-14) for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. The 6-foot-6, 195-pounder was the best bucker-getter in the sport, posting 49 games with 30 points or more. SGA also had six matchups where he recorded a double-double for points and assists for Oklahoma City.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the 2024-25 NBA scoring champion ???? pic.twitter.com/D6hMgxxT8q
— Basketball Forever (@bballforever_) April 14, 2025
Alexander had the Thunder unstoppable in March, winning 13 of 14 games.
SGA is ‘an evolution of James Harden, D-Wade, and Penny Hardaway,’ per Carmelo Anthony
He has an opportunity to lead a young team to its first championship. Alexander and OKC will draw whoever comes out of the NBA’s Play-In Tournament as the No. 8 seed in the west for the first round of the playoffs.
The playoffs begin on Saturday.
Stephen M. Smith is a writer for Ball Exclusives. You can follow him him X via @CoachingMSmith.
