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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander puts a lot of effort into his appearance. Fashion is a clear passion. His postgame news conferences double as video shorts for Harper’s Bazaar.
I am impressed by a player who can pull off something shimmery or wear fur up to his chin while sporting a do-rag and dark sunglasses. Far be it for me to pose as a fashion critic. This is not an assessment of whether he pulls it off, though I’d say he absolutely does. I dress like a journalist styled by deadlines concerned only with a nice pair of sneakers and something that disguises the coffee I’m sure to spill on my hoodie. My fashion critiques are useless.
But the SGA off the court and the version of him in the Oklahoma City Thunder uniform represent a striking juxtaposition. The former tries really hard to be stunning. The latter makes it look so effortless.
Gilgeous-Alexander is not just an elite scorer; he’s so, so smooth with it. Watching him get buckets is almost therapeutic. Right before our eyes, he’s blossomed into a historic scoring machine. His handle is silkier than one of his half-buttoned shirts. He doesn’t wow you with dribble moves, but he handles the rock so fluidly. His moves and counters. The improvisational way he manipulates leverage and shifts into spaces. And it’s all punctuated with a midrange jumper that ol’ heads would call butter.
SGA is one to watch as the NBA Cup transitions to the quarterfinals. One of the benefits of this in-season tournament — and the hype surrounding it — is gems like Gilgeous-Alexander get to shine. In a league that loves showcasing its prolific offensive players, he is unique among the game’s best.
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A big game from Giannis Antetokounmpo is like a muscle car with Flowmasters roaring through a school zone. Nothing about Jayson Tatum’s scoring looks easy.
Ever see Luka Dončić go off? It’s spectacular. But he makes it look so laborious. You need a cigarette and a cold one afterward just from watching.
Anthony Edwards is simply exciting. He’s all flair. As is Nikola Jokić. Even though Joker is smooth in his own right, it just has the subtlety of an elephant C-walking to “Not Like Us.” His version of smoothness is seizing.
SGA sneaks up on you. He just goes to work, and you look up and he’s got 30 again. Like he rolls out of bed to 20 points.
He’s the new Kevin Durant in that sense. You know how KD makes putting the ball in the basket feel like breathing? How it feels so automatic as to be inevitable? SGA is of that ilk. Smooth for no reason. He scores like cats walk. Like Les Twins dance. Like Penelope Cruz says “Nespresso.”
Gilgeous-Alexander already is on pace for a third season averaging 30 points per game or more. If he does, he’d be one of 16 players in NBA history to average 30 or more three times. (Giannis also is on pace for his third such season.) Only 23 players have multiple seasons averaging 30-plus.
Even SGA’s free-throw grifting is slick. He’s fourth in attempts this season, behind Giannis, Anthony Davis and James Harden.
SGA often looks unstoppable. Yet, his career-high is only 45. This is his seventh season, and he’s scored 40 or more only 14 times.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on pace for a third season averaging at least 30 points per game. (Troy Taormina / Imagn Images)
His modus operandi isn’t especially explosive. He doesn’t often get hot and go wild. He’s not one for superb peaks and periodic valleys.
Gilgeous-Alexander is just at the same level. Perennially. Humbly, even. Cooking defenses like it’s a 9-to-5. Over the last two-plus seasons, totaling 164 games, he has just 10 games where he’s failed to score 20.
Not too high. Not too low. Just in the same groove. Unimpeded by smaller defenders or bigger ones, quicker ones or stronger ones. At 6-foot-6, he has just enough athleticism and strength and leaping ability to counter just about any defense.
If SGA continues at this current pace, he will be the 10th player to average 30 in three straight seasons. The other nine: Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Adrian Dantley, Bob McAdoo, James Harden and Joel Embiid. Yes, Gilgeous-Alexander is already among the upper echelon of bucket-getters.
Durant has only averaged 30 twice. Same for Stephen Curry, Rick Barry and George Gervin, among others.
What’s even rarer about SGA is his road to success. He’s become this unstoppable scorer despite not entering the NBA as such. He averaged 14.4 points his one season at Kentucky and was drafted two picks after college teammate Kevin Knox.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 10.8 points as a rookie despite 73 starts. That puts him in another rare group along with Giannis, Kobe Bryant and Harden. They are the four players in NBA history who have averaged 30 points in a season after averaging fewer than 11 points as a rookie.
Most of the NBA’s great single-season scorers came into the league getting buckets. Of the 37 players all-time who have averaged 30 points in a season, 16 of them averaged at least 20 points as rookies. Another nine averaged at least 15.
Most of the bunch were scorers from the beginning of their careers, better than two-thirds. They announced themselves early. You knew what they were in the league to do.
SGA kinda sneaked up on us. Slithered into rarified air. Most had never heard of him until he was the key piece in a massive deal for Paul George. Now at 26, he’s already a more accomplished offensive weapon than PG.
And SGA’s 3-ball isn’t refined yet. He shot 40.4 percent in college but is hitting just 34.8 percent over his pro career. He’s got the form and the touch. It figures to get to where he’s knocking down the 3 at a higher clip.
Could he be the next 30,000-point scorer? He’ll pass 10,000 this season. He could be at 20,000 by year No. 12. The pace tracks.
Sure, Gilgeous-Alexander defends and passes, and he is growing as a leader. But, man, just watch him work on offense. With the ball in his hands, anywhere near the free-throw line and the defender at his mercy, peep the rhythm of his flow. The simplicity of his jumper. The reliability of its conversion. The matter-of-factness in his demeanor. The fashion in which he dominates.
The fur coat and do-rag are but accessories.
(Top photo: Joshua Gateley / Getty Images)
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