Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been simply spectacular in this 2025-26 NBA season and has led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the third straight year. While Gilgeous-Alexander’s play has even made him the MVP favorite, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons thinks the Thunder, who are currently 64-16, would be pretty good if you replaced him with a role player.
On the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons asked guest Tim Legler how many games the Thunder would win if they had Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski instead of Gilgeous-Alexander.
“Let’s replace him with Brandin Podziemski for the entire year,” Simmons said. “… Brandin Podziemski is now in the SGA spot and probably a little more Ajay Mitchell. And everything else is the same. Jalen Williams still gets hurt. You have all the other guys. That’s the exact same season, but I’ve replaced SGA. How many wins does OKC have?”
Simmons pointed out Podziemski would be coming off the bench and wouldn’t be the one getting all of Gilgeous-Alexander’s minutes. Ajay Mitchell, who would have been in the running for Most Improved Player had he met the 65-game requirement, would be the starter and get most of those minutes.
Legler believes the Thunder would be in the mid-50s for wins in this scenario. He then brought up the fact that they are 8-4 without Gilgeous-Alexander this season. That is a lot of wins for a season, and Simmons feels they’d be around about there, too.
“I had 53-29,” Simmons stated.
Going 53-29 this season would probably see the Thunder finish as the third seed in the West. This speaks to how highly Legler and Simmons think of the supporting cast around Gilgeous-Alexander and the system that head coach Mark Daigneault and his staff have put in place.
That might be too high a number for wins, though, especially when you consider we’re not assuming that Jalen Williams will be healthy in this scenario. Williams was the Thunder’s second-best player last season as they won the championship, but has played just 33 games this time around.
All that time off has also led to Williams not being at his best when he has played. He is averaging 17.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game in 2025-26.
Would we back the Thunder to get to 53 wins with this version of Williams for 33 games and no Gilgeous-Alexander, who is averaging 31.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game in 2025-26?
Now, the Thunder’s 105.9 defensive rating is the best in the NBA by far. They should be able to win a fair few games on their defense alone.
We’d probably see Mitchell put up quality numbers in a bigger role, too. He had 23 points (9-18 FG) and six assists the last time we saw him play without Gilgeous-Alexander on Jan. 9 against the Memphis Grizzlies.
As for Podziemski, he is averaging 13.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game for the Warriors in 2025-26. He is a bit of a polarizing figure, but would be a solid role player for the Thunder.
So, the Thunder should still be good, but 53 wins good? Probably not. We haven’t seen any of the players on that team be the No. 1 option on the offensive end for an extended stretch. The likes of Mitchell have impressed, but how will he fare when the defenses are specifically gameplanning for him? There would be some growing pains, especially when you remember he is in his second season.
There is a lot to like about the pieces the Thunder have, but it’s a bit disrespectful to Gilgeous-Alexander to suggest they’d be this good without him.
