Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder to their first NBA Finals appearance since 2012, where they are now tied 1-1 heading into Game 3 against the Pacers. Gilgeous-Alexander came into the spotlight as he won the MVP Award for the regular season as well as the Western Conference Finals in the Thunder’s historic Playoff run.
Several NBA players and analysts have lauded his mid-range prowess and ability to carry the team’s offensive load on his shoulders. Some even compared him to the great late Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and also claimed that he saved NBA basketball. Among them were former NBA players Paul Pierce and Louis Williams.
“I was having a conversation with one of my friends, and he was asking me about SGA and I said, ‘This is going to sound crazy.’ I said, ‘But we’re looking at a Kobe Bryant being created, we’re looking at like that next generation of Kobes and this and that.’ And he was like ‘SGA?’ And I said ‘Absolutely.’ Through the first two games, he’s put 72 points on the board,” said Louis Williams on FanDuel’s ‘Run It Back’ Show
“The thing, to me, the closest thing to Kobe, I’m going to say Shai Gilgeous, like without the athleticism. I mean when you talk about just downhill, footwork, mid-range, mentality, I mean the kid is trying to.. I mean, Game 1, he shot 30 shots, that’s Kobe-ish,” said Paul Pierce on Fox Sports’ ‘The Speak’ Show.
Kobe Bryant was widely credited for popularizing the mid-range shot. His influence on the sport was so highly regarded that at one point, almost every child or young adult who shot even a rolled tissue ball into the bin and made it, yelled “Kobe!”
Similarly, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has brought back the importance of mid-range jump shots in a generation that was moving further behind the three-point line to shoot. In an era of Stephen Curry, Trae Young, and Jayson Tatum-type players who shoot high volumes from beyond the arc, Gilgeous-Alexander is proving that mid-range scoring is just as effective and may even be more effective.
According to the statistics present on the NBA’s official website, Gilgeous-Alexander shot 56.2% from within five feet of the basket (59 of 105) in the Thunder’s current Playoff run. He shot 51.56% from mid-range, i.e, five feet to 20 feet from the basket (99 of 192) and only 30.6% from beyond the arc (30 of 98). Despite scoring the majority of his points from the mid-range, he leads the league in scoring.
He also broke Allen Iverson’s record of most points in the first two games played in the NBA Finals with 72 points in the first two games (Iverson had 71).
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged 30.4 points, 6.8 assists, and 5.6 rebounds in 18 games played so far in the 2025 playoffs, headed into Game 3 of the NBA Finals. He won the Michael Jordan MVP Award for the regular season as well as the Magic Johnson MVP Award in the Western Conference Finals. He was widely considered the betting favorite to be the Finals MVP in this series if the Thunder wins against the Pacers.
Do you think he is this generation’s Kobe Bryant? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
