OKC Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn't in 50-point club, but 'it'll come one day'

Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Tyrese Maxey, Stephen Curry, Jalen Brunson, Trae Young, Karl-Anthony Towns …

Inhales. 

… Cam Thomas, Keegan Murray, Damian Lillard, Zach LaVine, Jaren Jackson Jr., Kyrie Irving, Tyrese Haliburton, Jerami Grant, Anthony Edwards, Mikal Bridges, Miles Bridges and Desmond Bane.

Twenty-three players, all of whom have scored more points than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a game this season. SGA, who leads the NBA with 1,649 points.

It’s the Great Scoring Paradox. That in a season filled with individual scoring binges, one of the NBA’s most inevitable bucket getters has yet to post an obscene number.

We’ve seen Doncic go for 73 and Embiid score 70. Antetokounmpo scored 64 and Booker and Towns had 62. Curry, at age 35, exploded for 60.

“There’s some very talented basketball players in the league,” Gilgeous-Alexander said last month when asked about the scoring sprees. “It’s remarkable to watch. It’s inspiring, it’s fun. I think the talent in this league is really special.”

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's style is consistency

When reminded that his career high is only 44 points, Gilgeous-Alexander grinned. Like he knew, as did everyone else, that he could score 50 tomorrow if he pressed.

“It’ll come one day,” he said. “Hopefully sooner rather than later just to get a taste of it. But yeah, once I’m out there, none of that is going through my mind. Just try to win the basketball game. If it happens it happens.”

Gilgeous-Alexander could’ve hunted a bigger number on numerous occasions, but that’s neither been his nor the Thunder’s style. There’s something to be said for the workmanlike way SGA scores 30ish points night after night as the best player on one of the best teams in the NBA.

There may not be a more consistent, high-floor scorer in the league.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored a season-high 43 points — one shy of his career-high — against Cleveland way back on Nov. 8. Now, 43 points is nothing to scoff at, but you can’t help but shrug when Doncic and Antetokounmpo have topped that number five teams this season. Embiid and Booker have had four games of 44-plus points.

Since SGA entered the league in 2018, 60 players have had a 45-point game. That’s not 60 instances, but 60 players who have scored more points in a National Basketball Association contest since Gilgeous-Alexander debuted.

James Harden has a league-high 22 games of 45-plus in that span. Antetokounmpo and Curry have 19 and 18. But further down the list are names you wouldn’t expect. Guys like T.J. Warren and Caris LeVert. Bojan Bogdanovic and Saddiq Bey for crying out loud.

Former Sooner Blake Griffin, no longer in the league, has twice scored 45-plus since SGA debuted. And those were in Griffin’s Detroit days when his knees were shot.

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'Don’t underestimate' Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Of SGA’s 12 career 40-point games, all of them span from 40 to 44 points.

Of course he could score more. It just hasn’t been a priority.

“The one thing I’ve learned with him is don’t underestimate him on any one thing,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “But he plays the game. He plays inside the team. And he’s gonna make the right plays … if that yields a big scoring night, that yields a big scoring night.”

He’s not a chucker. Gilgeous-Alexander has never attempted more than 30 shots in a game, and he’s not a high-volume 3-point shooter. He is, however, elite at getting to the foul line and making free throws, which lends itself to big numbers.

SGA will get his taste of a 50 burger. One day he might flirt with 60, even 70.

But Gilgeous-Alexander, like his game, won’t be rushed. The circumstance will have to be just right. Borne more out of necessity than numbers-chasing.

“He doesn’t play with much agenda on that stuff,” Daigneault said. “He just lets his game talk. He just does. He’s certainly not hunting it, we’re not hunting it. I think those are things that just happen.

“You’d never predict it the day before it happens and then it does.”

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Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander not in 50-point club ... yet