24-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has quickly surfaced to become one of the best young players in basketball. This season, through 21 games, he’s been an MVP front-runner with averages of 31.1 points, 6 assists, and 4.7 rebounds per game on 50% shooting.
Sadly for Shai’s MVP campaign, the Thunder are probably not going to finish high enough in the standings to give SGA a chance, but he should be an All-Star if he holds up this level of play. NBA legend Charles Barkley gave him a huge endorsement for the All-Star game just a few days back.
“Let me tell you something right now,” Barkley said. “Shai Gilgeous-Alexander better be starting in the damn All-Star Game this year.”
The growing movement for his All-Star bid has gotten the attention of Shai himself, and he had this to say when asked about Barkley’s statement.
“Yeah, it’s cool,” said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. “The recognition is obviously a nice thing but obviously that’s not what I work hard every day for. We’ve got a good group going here with a lot of young players trying to find themselves in the NBA. My job is to kind of spearhead and lead that. Make sure everyone’s getting better. But I think we’re doing so, so that’s all I’m worried about.”
I asked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander his thoughts on Charles Barkley saying he better be starting in the All Star Game. pic.twitter.com/TI1PUxGw1G
— SneakerReporter (@SneakerReporter) December 4, 2022
Is SGA A Superstar?
Being so young, with so little experience in the league, it’s hard to make any assertions on where Gilgeous-Alexander ranks among the best player in the game, but there is little doubt he has to be considered pretty high on the list.
“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, let’s just call it what it is. He’s one of the best scorers in the league right now,” said ESPN’s Kirk Goldsberry. “He’s never made the All-Star Game, and we can go through some numbers, but this dude is an All-Star at least. He should probably be starting the game. I’ll give you just like a basic stat that we dug up on the research that it’s like out of sixty-two players that have averaged, at least, 30 points a game prior to the all-star game in the NBA history, 60 made the All-Star Game 54 of those started it.”
The Thunder are still in a rebuilding phase as they look for pieces to add around Shai and Chet Holmgren when he finally returns from injury.
But in a few years, when this Thunder team grows up, they could be a real force to fear in the West. Already, they are building the type of culture and mentality that breeds success.
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