Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Draws Comparisons to a Hall of Famer

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander still has plenty of work left to do if he wants to be in the NBA’s coveted Hall of Fame someday. If last season was any indication, though, he’s certainly on the right track.

The 25-year old star added an All-Star appearance and a First Team All-NBA selection to his name while finishing in the top five of MVP voting. He averaged a career-high 31.4 points per game and led the Thunder to the play-in tournament. As Oklahoma City’s continues to improve and inches towards a deep playoff run in a loaded Western conference, Gilgeous-Alexander’s resume will grow. The better the Thunder play as a team, the better it’ll look on SGA.

Despite a long way to go for the Hall of Fame, it’s always interesting to look at comparisons between the stars of today and the all-time greats. Gilgeous-Alexander’s game is so unique it’s hard to pinpoint an exact play style to categorize him.

Bleacher Report recently published a story comparing the NBA’s best 25-and-under stars to current Hall of Famers, and of course Gilgeous-Alexander made the cut. His comparison might surprise people just a bit, though.

Oklahoma City’s star was listed as a “smaller Clyde Drexler” which might just be a first. It’s certainly not a perfect comparison, but there are similarities.

“It's difficult to draw a great comparison to Gilgeous-Alexander, as the 25-year-old is a big combo guard who does nearly everything well and often looks smooth doing it,” BR wrote. “The same can be said about Drexler and his time with the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1980's. The two have similar frames (Gilgeous-Alexander at 6'6" and Drexler at 6'7") and possess a certain gracefulness to their games that's rare to find from big-time scorers.

“Gilgeous-Alexander may not have been given a nickname as sweet as "The Glide" just yet, although one would certainly be justified. The Thunder guard can snake his way through a defense, putting defenders in a spin cycle before reaching up and gently finger-rolling a layup into the basket. Like with Drexler, what is an incredibly difficult sequence of events to pull off can actually appear to look quite easy.”

Gilgeous-Alexander and Drexler can both get to any spot on the floor and score with ease. Drexler is the better athlete, while Gilgeous-Alexander is more of a point guard, but the way they carry their teams and elevate their teammates stands out.

Many people tend to compare SGA to Dwayne Wade, who killed opponents from the midrange. In this series, though, Wade was compared to Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards.

The cool thing about Gilgeous-Alexander is there’s not a true comparison out there for him. He’s his own player, and that’s what makes him nearly impossible to stop. There’s no blueprint or formula, and teams are still trying to figure it out.

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