The last time the NBA saw a defending champion open a season with this much control and conviction, Stephen Curry and the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors were rewriting basketball’s playbook. But the deeper you look, the more this start resembles another legend’s rhythm: Michael Jordan in the early ’90s, when every game after a title felt personal.
Coming off Oklahoma City’s first championship, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is playing with that same aura. Through just two games of the 2025-26 regular season, the reigning Finals MVP is averaging 45.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 5.0 assists on 47.4 percent shooting, leading the Thunder to a flawless 2-0 record.
His most recent showing, a 55-point outburst in a double-overtime win against Indiana, wasn’t about numbers. It was about dominance. The kind of takeover that blurs the line between confidence and inevitability. That’s the same look Jordan carried after his first championship in 1991, when he opened the following season averaging over 37 points through the Bulls’ first week, forcing teams to feel his presence before they saw the scoreboard.
In that light, Shai’s start mirrors a lineage of champions who didn’t just defend their crown; they redefined it.
A decade ago, Stephen Curry entered his back-to-back MVP season averaging 32.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 6.5 assists across his first two games. His approach was surgical, built on effortless motion, deep-range accuracy, and mathematical precision. Curry’s 2015-16 start set the foundation for a 73-win season.
Shai, meanwhile, is channeling something more primal. His game is grounded in rhythm, control, and timing. He isn’t just scoring; he’s dictating. Every jab step and hesitation feels like a chess move in motion. It’s Jordan-esque in how it disarms defenders.
Jordan’s Bulls of 1992 didn’t just repeat as champions; they imposed their will from the opening tip. That same energy radiates through this Thunder roster. What Curry did with pace and precision, Shai does with pressure and poise.
And that’s what separates this moment. The 2015-16 Warriors opened their season looking to prove they could sustain greatness. The 2025-26 Thunder are showing they can evolve it.
If Curry’s post-title season was basketball’s Silicon Valley revolution, and Jordan’s was its golden era of dominance, Shai’s might be its modern renaissance; a fusion of art, power, and purpose.
Through two games, the message is loud and clear: Oklahoma City isn’t satisfied. Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t either. And just like those Bulls and Warriors before them, they’re already chasing something bigger than a trophy. They’re chasing legacy.
