Bleacher Report predicts Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will make All-NBA second team
The Oklahoma City Thunder have been one of the biggest surprises in the league this season as they fight for a playoff spot after being viewed as a lottery team.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander deserves most of the credit for OKC’s turnaround. The 24-year-old is enjoying the best season of his career. In 64 games, he is averaging a career-high 31.3 points on 62.5 true-shooting percentage, 5.4 assists and 4.8 rebounds.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s performance has even garnered whispers he’ll appear on MVP ballots. With the type of season he’s enjoying, he’ll easily make an All-NBA team for the first time in his career — the question isn’t if, but which of the three teams he’ll make as a guard.
According to Bleacher Report, the answer is All-NBA second team:
“The path to modern NBA efficiency typically doesn’t include cutting 3-point attempts in half, but Gilgeous-Alexander has a way of getting what he wants on his own terms. Just ask any perimeter defender who’s tried and failed to stay in front of him this season.
No one tops Gilgeous-Alexander’s 23.9 drives per game, and Malcolm Brogdon is the only player with a lower turnover rate among those who attempt even 15 such plays per game. It’s difficult to explain how a player who attempts only 2.5 triples per contest gets into the paint so frequently. Everyone knows where SGA wants to go, and he gets there anyway.
SGA is averaging 31.4 points per game while shooting 51.1 percent from the floor. Prior to this offensively explosive year, which includes three other players clearing those same thresholds, there were only three 30-point, 50-percent seasons since Michael Jordan did it in 1991-92. They belonged to LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
Your mileage may vary on his chances at Most Improved Player, but it has to be noted that SGA went from an exciting young talent who’d never made an All-Star team to a short-list MVP candidate this season.”
Making the second team is the most likely outcome for Gilgeous-Alexander, but he has a really strong argument to make the first team. The only thing that will likely hold him back is OKC’s record and market size.
The two All-NBA first-team guards were Luka Doncic and Steph Curry in this Bleacher Report scenario.
