Preseason discussions have centered around whether Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is willing to play more off-ball action.
During the preseason, Gilgeous-Alexander ranked fourth in attempts per game. This is a surprising stat considering his performance last season.
Gilgeous-Alexander set career highs in points, field goal percentage and usage rate last year, and after a career season, it doesn’t look like he’ll be asked to do as much heavy lifting this year.
The emergence of Josh Guiddy and Jalen Williams and the return of Chet Holmgren should ease the load on Gilgeous-Alexander this season. Everyone – including SGA – seems to be embracing the free-flowing offensive style.
“The best team that’s ever played, the team that’s won the most games, the team that’s played the most championships together,” Gilgeous-Alexander explained.
That’s an encouraging thing to hear from Gilgeous-Alexander — because when it comes to the Thunder playing their ideal offense, his support is arguably just as important as the development of their young core.
Coming off a career season, the 25-year-old could easily read the other way and suggest they should continue to attack with him at the center. After all, the plan was quite successful last season, considering the Thunder went 40-42 thanks to Gilgeous-Alexander being named to the All-NBA team.
Instead, Gilgeous-Alexander is willing to let his teammates do the cooking and give him the occasional break — which goes a long way toward staying fresh for the playoffs.
Gilgeous-Alexander ties his approach to what Michael Jordan did as a player while learning Phil Jackson’s triangle offense.
“I don’t know if you’ve seen the ‘Last Dance’ documentary, but there was a point in Michael Jordan’s career where he had to learn the triangle offense and play with the ball in his hands 24/7,” Gilgeous – Alexander he said. “So if Michael Jordan had to do it, I definitely had to do it.”