(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
One of the best players in the NBA right now who doesn’t get a ton of publicity is the Oklahoma City Thunder‘s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
He has gone from a rising star to one of the game’s most explosive and prolific scorers over the last few years, and at the mere age of 24, he could still have room for improvement.
In fact, he set an NBA record by becoming the youngest guard to average at least 30 points a game while shooting at least 50 percent from the field this season, beating Michael Jordan’s previous record.
Truly historically efficient volume scoring from SGA this year https://t.co/uaJ8tc7MX8 pic.twitter.com/oLQ9b1tk32
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) April 12, 2023
Gilgeous-Alexander put up 31.4 points a game and made 51.0 percent of his field-goal attempts while also contributing 5.5 assists per game.
He almost single-handedly carried a Thunder team that was expected by most to be terrible to a 40-42 record, which earned them a spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament versus the New Orleans Pelicans.
Although Gilgeous-Alexander is 6-foot-6 and weighs just 180 pounds, he has become a free-throw magnet who attempted 10.9 foul shots a game this season and shot an outstanding 90.5 percent from the charity stripe, making it perhaps the most impressive facet of his game.
By comparison, none of his teammates averaged even four free-throw attempts a contest this season.
Moving forward, Oklahoma City may not win the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes if they lose to the Pelicans on Friday, but it should have the services of Chet Holmgren, who missed all of his rookie campaign with a foot injury, next year.
In addition, it will have a large number of first-round draft picks in the coming years to build a winner around Gilgeous-Alexander.
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