Austin Reaves Predicts Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Will Be In MVP Race

One of Team USA's top scorers predicted Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would be in the MVP race after guarding him in the World Cup.

Team USA got to see Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s summer improvement up close and personal. After a year of dominating NBA teams, SGA dominated a team full of NBA players in the FIBA World Cup.

Admittedly, Team USA wasn’t at full strength. LeBron James seems committed to play for the Americans next summer, bringing along Steph Curry and Kevin Durant — but none of those players took the court during the World Cup.

Austin Reaves was a top scorer for the Americans’ World Cup squad after a strong season with the Lakers. He likely won’t be on Team USA’s full Olympic squad, but he was efficient enough to help his country this summer. On the defensive side, though, Reaves struggled. Part of that, though, is simply because of who he was guarding — players like Gilgeous-Alexander. It’s a hard task for anyone, especially alone on an island.

After seeing him operate up close and personal, Reaves thinks there’s a good chance SGA will be up for the NBA’s most prestigious award. And that’s high praise coming from a teammate of LeBron James.

"He kills everybody in the league," Reaves said, per Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. "He's one day probably going to be in the race for MVP."

Reaves' comments are no surprise, as nearly everyone who has faced SGA has had heaps of praise. Head coach Steve Kerr also commented on his performance, saying Team USA "tried everything." One of the team's leaders and rising NBA star Mikal Bridges said Gilgeous-Alexander's game was "slithery" and called him "an unbelievable player."

The Thunder star ended up scoring 31 points in Team Canada's victory over Team USA and was quite clearly his country's best player over the course of the World Cup. 

Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 24.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists this summer. His play is even more impressive considering his 2022-23 NBA season where he averaged 31.4 points with 5.5 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 68 games.

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