Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Can’t Explain His Shooting Slump, Either

The two-time MVP is struggling from the field in the Western Conference finals.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander surrounded by defenders in the Western Conference finals. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

The Spurs forced Game 7 in the Western Conference finals on Thursday night with a 118–91 win over the Thunder. Victor Wembanyama had 28 points and 10 rebounds, and Dylan Harper added 18 off the bench for San Antonio in a game they needed to avoid elimination.

No one on the Thunder put up impressive numbers as the team shot 37% from the floor and just 25% from three, but the real surprise was how poorly MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to shoot in the series. Through six games he's 37.9% from the field and just 26.1% from three.

Asked about his struggles during the series, Gilgeous-Alexander told the media it's too late to make any big changes.

"I’m not too sure to be honest," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "A lot of the shots that I’m shooting, I’ve shot plenty of times before and they feel good, they’re just not going in. But it’s too late to abandon my work and abandon my game and who I am. This late in the season I’ve got to trust it, and live or die by it."

https://t.co/zT6P21GJIt pic.twitter.com/KrWhr8YIwf

— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) May 29, 2026

As you can see in that graphic from SportsCenter, SGA has shot under 50% from the field in four straight games, which is tied for the longest postseason streak of his career. With a 12-for-24 performance in Game 2, he was just one miss away from that being all six games. Compare that to the first two series of the Thunder's postseason run where he shot better than 50% in six of their eight wins.

His struggles in the conference finals have been so great that he's down to 45.5% from the field in the playoffs after shooting 55.3% in the regular season. Eight full years into his career he's shooting 50.8% from the field in the regular season, and 46.5% in the playoffs.

SGA’s three-point shooting has been especially bad. A career 36% shooter from three, he had the second-best three-point shooting percentage of his career this season at 38.6%. During the postseason he's shooting just 29.6%.

Now for the good news. That 29.6% is actually higher than he shot during last year's championship run when he shot 28.3%.

So despite the struggles, SGA is still averaging 24.8 points and 8.8 assists per game in the series, and the Thunder are just one home win away from making it to the NBA Finals for the second consecutive season.

This probably says more about the Spurs’ defense, which held the Thunder under 90 points for the first time in years during this series. They had the No. 8-ranked scoring defense in the league during the regular season and held opponents to the fourth-lowest field-goal percentage. In the postseason they're holding opponents to six fewer points per game (105.1) and allowing the lowest field-goal percentage (41.1%). They also held All-Stars Deni Avdija and Anthony Edwards under their regular-season shooting percentages, though they didn't have as drastic a drop-off.

The big difference is that SGA is still playing. If the Thunder go on to win Game 7 on Saturday, this won't be a talking point again until these teams meet in next year's playoffs. SGA is not the only one to struggle against this defense. If the Spurs win, SGA’s shooting woes will likely be a huge reason why, but for now he'll just keep doing what he does and maybe the Thunder will keep winning.

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