OKC Thunder Offense Changes With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 3-Point Shot

The Oklahoma City Thunder have turned the corner on the offensive end since the start of the new year, owning one of the league's best offenses since Jan. 1. That offense is largely driven by superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who has been one of the league's best scorers for the past few seasons, and is leading the NBA in points per game during the 2024-25 campaign.

Gilgeous-Alexander himself has taken another step. Since Feb. 1, the OKC Thunder superstar is shooting 44% from 3-point land on 5.7 attempts a night. That brings his 3-point mark to a 37.4% clip on the year, which is his second-best output on more attempts per game. On non-corner triples, Gilgeous-Alexander is shooting 38%, ranking in the 79th percentile according to cleaning the glass.

"Work ethic, shooting shots I am comfortable with, but ultimately just trusting the work through the misses and the makes. Knowing that, if I take a shot that I am comfortable with, at the right time in the game, then it is a good shot and you live with the results. Part of the game is going to be ups and downs, makes and misses, but you put in the work and you'll be rewarded," Gilgeous-Alexadner said following Monday's game of his 3-point shooting.

The Superstar certainly looks more comfortable and is being set up better by teammates on some of these attempts - with high-level spacing to operate and more playmakers around him to offer up catch-and-shoot chances - but the backbone of it all is the work he put in to make his jump shot smoother than its ever been.

This season, Gilgeous-Alexander is taking 1.2 catch-and-shoot looks during the court of a game to the tune of a 47% clip. Last season he only saw 1.0 catch-and-shoot chances on just 36.5% in those settings.

That subtle difference has really helped the Thunder's offense and free up chances for the superstar with the high post playmaking from Isaiah Hartenstein to redirect passes out to Gilgeous-Alexander off the ball, the drive-and-kick chances set up by Jalen Williams and while it hasn't been a fixture of Oklahoma City's offense, it is a more consistent element and tool the team can use moving forward.

On off the dribble jumpers, Gilgeous-Alexander is producing 1.06 points per possession this season compared to 1.04 a year ago. While the improvement is not jaw-dropping on paper, it adds up over time and is what leads to the ability to go for the first four 50 point games of his career this season and kick an already good Thunder offense into another gear.

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