Shaq Picks Thunder’s SGA as Better Player Than Mavs’ Luka, But Numbers Don't Lie
As entertaining as Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith are on the "NBA on TNT" show, a lot of time, they'll leave you scratching your head with some of the opinions they have on today's players.
That happened this week, as O'Neal claimed that Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a better player than Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic.
“I’m gonna have to take [SGA]," O'Neal said. "Luka is a fabulous player, but this kid? He plays the right way [and] gets his teammates involved. … I’m taking him right now. He’s a hell of a player right now.”
Now look, we don't claim to be rocket scientists, but how can one player averaging 6.3 assists per game "get his teammates involved" more than another player averaging 9.2 assists with an overall less-talented supporting cast? To O'Neal's credit, he does use the disclaimer, "right now," when saying SGA is better than Doncic, but even that isn't true when you compare the overall numbers.
Through 40 games, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists while shooting 55.2 percent overall, including 32.4 percent from deep. Through 35 games, Doncic is averaging 33.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 9.2 assists while shooting 48.5 percent overall, including a career-high 37.6 percent from deep.
When this debate comes up, most people in favor of SGA will usually point to him being a two-way player as the reason why they take him over Doncic. But Doncic has been much improved on that end of the court this season, and the idea that he's a bad defender is old news. He might not have the lateral quickness or athleticism that SGA has, but he has elite strength in the post and timing when it comes to getting steals.
Gilgeous-Alexander is the better defender, but it's not enough of a difference to put him ahead of Doncic, especially when considering all the high-level talent SGA has around him from top to bottom of the OKC roster. This isn't to say Dallas doesn't have a talented roster, but OKC is younger and has more potential for growth.
There's also an argument to be made that the sixth-place Mavs would be a lot closer to the second-place Thunder in the Western Conference standings if not for Dallas having cruddy injury luck. It's almost remarkable that Doncic has been able to navigate the Mavs to a 24-18 record given all the games that Kyrie Irving, Dereck Lively II, Dante Exum, Josh Green and others have missed.
SGA might catch up to Doncic one day, but he's going to have to work extremely hard to do so while also hoping Doncic's production plummets. That's not likely, though, as Doncic is on pace to make his fifth All-NBA First Team appearance in six seasons while also having playoff experience under his belt.
