The Oklahoma City Thunder are still vying for the top seed in the Western Conference standings with just a few games remaining in their schedule. But they wouldn’t have been remotely close to this position if it weren’t for the exceptional play this season of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Having a Michael Jordan-esque Stretch
So far in the 2023-24 NBA regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 30.3 points and just 2.2 turnovers per game. Despite the amount of touches and time with the ball in his hands this season, he’s able to prevent himself from being a high-turnover rate guy — just like MJ during a seriously insane stretch in the early 90s.
Via StatMuse:
Fun fact: SGA is the first player since MJ with back-to-back 30-PPG seasons with fewer than 3 TOV per game.
Jordan had three consecutive seasons (from 1990-91 to 1992-93) in which he averaged at least 30 points per game while losing commuting fewer than three turnovers per contest. He won two MVPs in those three seasons.
Unless Gilgeous-Alexander suddenly forgets how to play basketball, he can be safely expected to finish the season with fewer than three turnovers a night, with the Thunder only having four games on their calendar before the 2024 NBA Playoffs. But Gilgeous-Alexander still has to do work on offense to keep his average over 30 points. He is slated to return to action after multiple games of absence this Tuesday versus the Sacramento Kings at home.
After taking on the Kings, the Thunder will host the following teams in succession: San Antonio Spurs, Milwaukee Bucks, and Dallas Mavericks to close out their regular season.
At the time of this writing, the Thunder are just a game behind the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets in the West standings. During SGA’s four-game absence, Oklahoma City went just 1-3 with their only win coming at the expense of the lowly and lottery-bound Charlotte Hornets on the road last Sunday, 121-118.
Needless to say, the Thunder are at their best when Gilgeous-Alexander is healthy and on the court, so it’s great news for them that the former Kentucky Wildcats star is on track to play in the Kings game. The last time he played, Gilgeous-Alexander, who was selected in the first round by the Hornets in the 2018 NBA Draft, he muscled out 19 points and grabbed two rebounds with three assists in a 113-112 win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden late last March.
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