Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Return Shows Promise For Thunder

After missing all of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s preseason games, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was available in the Thunder’s first regular season game. We expected him to play solid, and he delivered. He scored 32 points on 12-for-23 shooting while adding on six rebounds and five assists. For a player that missed preseason, he played incredible.

Since he scored over 30 points, he’s scratched the 30-point mark in 15 of his last 23 games. Scoring is clearly the best skill Gilgeous-Alexander has, and it’ll be his job as the Thunder’s season rolls on, and it’s complemented well by Josh Giddey and the rest of the squad.

The Thunder’s season opener came against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are going to be an incredibly talented team this season. They’ve got two of the best big-men in the league, yet Gilgeous-Alexander still found a way to heat up and put plenty of points on the board.

There’s a real possibility that Gilgeous-Alexander will bring the “too good to tank” energy into this season, and now that he’s playing with a much deeper roster, the question of this teams’ potential becomes a real possibility. Of course, there should be no overreactions to one game, but we’ve now seen the 6-foot-6 guard play like a near-superstar in his last 20 games or so.

If the Thunder are going to get Gilgeous-Alexander consistently this season, it’s hard to see him and the improved sophomores be a bottom-five team on the season. It may also be hard to leave him off the All-Star list, especially if he has the Thunder as a top-12 seed in the Western Conference.

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