The person being questioned! A single-season grand slam! How does the new king transform?

Judging from the results, many people may not have expected that a young guard who was once questioned would win the three major honors of MVP, championship and FMVP at the age of 26.

This is almost an unexpected surprise for the entire NBA, but judging from the facts, all this is no coincidence. The rise of the Thunder's new king was so fast that no one had time to react. Almost overnight, the Canadian guard completed his transformation from a potential star to a historical superstar.

Going back to the past six years, Alexander's performance in leading the team was not outstanding. At that time, he was more negatively labeled as "young and talented, but lacking leadership qualities." But who could have expected that this young man, who had been in the top five in MVP voting for three consecutive seasons, would have the most perfect season in the past decade at the age of 26.

Of course, the achievement of three best teams is not simple.

This achievement alone is enough to put Alexander on par with Thomas, Nash, Iverson and others, and has surpassed Wade, Westbrook, Stockton, Gary Payton, Reggie Miller, Ray Allen and other famous players in terms of number of times.

At only 26 years old, Alexander has already left many legends behind.

After leading the Thunder to the first championship in team history at the end of the playoffs and winning the FMVP, it is even more amazing to look at the achievements of this young guard. Throughout the history of the NBA, Jordan, James, and O'Neal all collected MVP + championship + FMVP at the age of 27, Kobe did it at the age of 30, Curry only realized his dream at the age of 33, and the 26-year-old Alexander was earlier than all superstars.

Looking at history, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has reached a similar level at the age of 23. Alexander is already standing on the threshold of history. In the new season, he has the opportunity to go further and hit the top 30 or even the top 20 seats in history.

To fully understand Alexander's value, you must first look at his performance on the offensive end.

Use three words to summarize his current offensive dominance:

High output, high efficiency, and extreme stability.

Extreme stability is the best synonym for Alexander.

Looking back at the 2022-23 season, he was already averaging 30 points per game at that time, but rarely scored super high points; in the 2023-24 season, he averaged 30+ points every six games, and his stability is quite amazing. In the championship season, Alexander scored 20+ points in 72 consecutive games, tying Durant and Jordan in one fell swoop, becoming the fourth longest record in history. In addition, he had 49 30+ scoring performances.

In addition, Alexander's high-scoring bursts are equally outstanding. He scored 50+ points four times in a single game last season, tying O'Neal and Olajuwon's career number of 50-points in just one season. He topped the scoring list with 32.7 points, the second-highest MVP score for a guard in history, second only to Jordan.

The field goal percentage is equally astonishing, 51.9%+37.5%+89.8%, which is close to the 180 club standard; what’s more worth mentioning is that all of this was accomplished when the Thunder established a lead in the first three quarters of most games, but even with an early truce in the final quarter, they were still able to maintain a high level of output.

In addition to offense, Alexander's defense is also excellent.

In the 2023-24 season, he almost won the steals title, averaging 2.68 blocks + steals per game. He has remained in the top ten in the league for three consecutive years and has an absolute all-around offensive and defensive level. However, this perfect state seems to only exist in the regular season.

Under the high-intensity defense in the playoffs, Alexander's performance also began to show cracks.

In the first round against the Grizzlies: 27.8 points and 6 assists, 40.2% shooting/25% three-pointers/90.9% in free throws

In the second round against the Nuggets: 29.7 points and 6.6 assists , shooting 52.9%/33.3%/82.5%

Western Conference Finals vs. Timberwolves: 31.4 points, 8.2 assists, shooting 45.7%/31.8%/86.3%

Finals vs. Pacers: 30.3 points, 5.6 assists, shooting 44.3%/24.2%/91.4%

Especially three-pointers, the regular season shooting rate was 37.5%, and the career high average of 5.7 shots per game. However, this data dropped sharply in the playoffs, with a shooting rate of 25% in the first round and only 24.2% in the finals. The outside threat dropped significantly. But even so, Alexander was still able to step forward at critical moments. He also made fatal three-pointers in G5 in the second round and G4 in the finals. Throughout the playoffs, he steadily contributed an outstanding record of 29.9 points, 6.5 assists, 5.3 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 0.9 blocks per game.

As for the new season, facing the goal of defending the title, the Thunder rely not only on Alexander's own progress, but also on team improvement.

The Thunder's young core is still growing. The twin-tower system of Holmgren and Harten can provide high and low support. Young player Wallace has made significant progress in organizational skills; Topic, who has returned from injury, can also begin to show his passing vision. Role players such as Aaron Wiggins, Dort, and A'ja Mitchell also have potential to break out.

As long as the tactics are optimized and the single ball-holding scenario is reduced, allowing Alexander to control the game more stably, the goal of defending the title is not unreachable. But there are also difficulties. The competition in the Western Conference in the new season is even more brutal. The Nuggets, Rockets, Lakers, Warriors, Clippers, Timberwolves and other opponents are not weaklings. Alexander and the Thunder will face more difficult challenges in the new season.

But there is no doubt that Alexander's legend has just begun, and the Thunder has changed from challenger to challenger. In the new season, he not only needs to protect the glory, but also needs to push his personal dominance and teamwork to new heights.

The championship is not the end, it is just the starting point for him to lead to a greater legend.