Sports Illustrated Top 100: Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Among Top 30 Players in NBA
Over the past few days, Sports Illustrated has been releasing their list of the top 100 NBA players of 2022. The only member of the Oklahoma City Thunder to make the cut was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but where did he rank?
Sports Illustrated locked Gilgeous-Alexander in at No. 30 in the top 100, which seems like the right place for the young, rising star. Had he not missed over half of the 2020-21 season, the Canadian guard would likely be higher on the list.
In the 35 contests he did appear in, Gilgeous-Alexander was spectacular. He averaged 23.7 points, 5.9 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game in his third NBA season. He did this on extremely efficient shooting splits, at better than 80 percent from the free throw line, 50 percent from the floor and 40 percent from deep.
These are impressive numbers, especially by a player that’s only 23 years old and the face of the franchise. Last season, Gilgeous-Alexander was the clear best player on the Thunder roster, drawing opposing teams’ best defenders and shouldering a heavy offensive load.
As Oklahoma City gets better, he will only start to get better looks and spacing. This means Gilgeous-Alexander could only be scratching the surface of his potential and potential production down the road.
It's promising that the Thunder have a guy that is considered a top-30 player, especially since he's still developing as a player.
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