Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Increased 3-Point Volume Paying Off for OKC Thunder

Oklahoma City’s superstar is having an MVP season, and his outside shooting has played a key role.

On Wednesday, the Thunder beat the Utah Jazz 123-114 to move to 36-7. Of course, the star of the night was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who dropped a career-high 54 points in the victory. His big night marked the first time a Thunder player has hit the 50-point threshold since Russell Westbrook in 2017.

While their overall styles of play are drastically different, Gilgeous-Alexander’s shooting profile coming into this season was quite similar to Westbrook's, with both doing a majority of their damage from inside the arc. However, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder understood that taking the next leap toward a championship would include an increase in 3-point volume.

Last season, Gilgeous-Alexander finished third in scoring at 30.1 points per game. He also averaged only 3.6 3-point attempts per game.

Now leading the league in scoring at the midway point of the regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander is putting up 32 points a night on 5.8 attempts from beyond the arc. While a difference of two deep shots per game isn’t all that staggering, it has opened up another part of his game.

Perhaps the most important part of Gilgeous-Alexander’s 3-point volume increase has been forcing defenders to respect him more from beyond the arc. Hovering around 35% from outside over the past couple of seasons, his ability to make the deep shot hasn’t changed much, but his willingness to shoot them has.

In his 54-point outburst against Utah, he shot 3-of-10 from beyond the arc. Although it wasn’t the greatest shooting night from outside, his shot balance helped him consistently keep the defense off-balance and get inside, where he shot 14-of-25 on twos and added a 17-of-18 mark from the foul line.

His 10 3-point attempts marked the fifth time this season he hit double figures in shots from outside, well above his season-high of eight from last season. It is also another example of his willingness to take the outside shot compared to last year. Gilgeous-Alexander has taken at least five 3-point shots in 29 of his 42 games this season, compared to hitting that mark only 26 times across 85 games, including the playoffs in 2023-24.

Gilgeous-Alexander will continue to dominate in the mid-range and make a living in the paint, but the Thunder star’s willingness to pull from deep has diversified his game and made him and the team even tougher to guard.

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