Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is unconventional in many ways.
The 25-year-old All-Star has vaulted himself into MVP contention this season, posting enormous stats for a team that is tied for the best record in the Western Conference with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game.
On Tuesday, he boosted the Thunder to a win over the Houston Rockets on TNT with 31 points, including several big baskets in the second half.
But in a league full of eye-popping athleticism, Gilgeous-Alexander shares a trait with the likes of Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic: He refuses to play at any pace besides the one he dictates.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s college coach, Kentucky’s John Calipari, once said his former star plays with an “absolute stillness” in his game that few other players can boast.
“The thing with his pace of game—he can play fast, but his mind never plays fast,” Calipari told Inside the Thunder in 2022. “His mind was always slower. Some guys have a burst, and then their mind is moving a thousand miles an hour—not his. He’d have a burst and be able to read and see and make plays late, which are the hardest ones to guard.”
Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Gilgeous-Alexander’s “stillness” was on display against the Thunder. Late in the first quarter, he got a switch against Rockets guard Fred VanVleet and backed his way into the paint. VanVleet, who is 6 feet tall against Gilgeous-Alexander’s impressive 6-foot-6 stature, slapped and poked at the ball but couldn’t dislodge or (predictably) speed Gilgeous-Alexander up. The Thunder star pivoted, pump-faked to set himself, lightly bumped his shoulder into VanVleet to freeze the Rockets guard in place, and elevated for a 14-foot jumper that dropped in.
Nothing about the play was explosive; the most impressive physical attributes Gilgeous-Alexander demonstrated were balance and height. Everything he did was patient, measured, and controlled, which seems to be his standard setting. Even when he did blow by defenders, including last year’s All-Defensive selection Dillon Brooks, he did it with a sudden change of speed rather than quick-twitch movements.
“I love Shai’s game,” LA Clippers star Paul George said on his podcast last year. “Man, Shai is nice. He’s got his own lane…He’s deceptively quick, he’s going to rock you to sleep and then blow by you. Everything is pace. Slow-fast, fast-slow.”
Gilgeous-Alexander’s methodical game mirrors his practice routine. Thunder coach Mark Daigneault told Sportsnet earlier this year that the Canadian guard is a “robot when it comes to his daily routine.”
“He’s got an unbelievable set up in Hamilton [Ontario],” Daigneault told Grange. “He just goes into like, hibernation. It’s very, very simple. It’s in his hometown, it’s with hometown people. There’s just no fluff. He’s just goes to work every single day.”
That work has helped transform Gilgeous-Alexander from a nice player who averaged 10.8 points per game as a rookie and 24.5 points per game just two years ago into one of the NBA’s highest scorers and an MVP frontrunner.
In addition to his counting stats, Gilgeous-Alexander has an enormous impact in his minutes. Per stats site Cleaning the Glass, the Thunder are 10.5 points per 100 possessions better with Gilgeous-Alexander on the floor than when he’s off. The team’s net rating (points per 100 possessions scored vs. surrendered) is 8.9. With Gilgeous-Alexander off the floor, that number plummets to 1.3.
Impact stats can’t fully make the MVP case for Gilgeous-Alexander. The consensus MVP favorite—Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic—has a titanic impact on his lineups: With Jokic in, the Nuggets outscore opponents by 10.9 points per 100 possessions. When he’s out, the Nuggets are outscored by 11.1.
Add Jokic’s near-triple-double-per-game counting stats at the center position (26.1 points, 12.3 rebounds, 9.3 assists) and Gilgeous-Alexander faces an uphill climb.
Still, the Thunder sit above the Nuggets in the Western Conference standings, and Gilgeous-Alexander’s per-game averages are undeniably impressive. MVP voters often value narrative as well, and the upstart Thunder is a fun story driven by their star guard.
Jokic may win MVP, but Gilgeous-Alexander is poised to give him a genuine push as the regular season winds down.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.