Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is starting to get some respect.
Sports Illustrated ranked the Oklahoma City Thunder guard as the No. 30 player in the NBA in their 2021-22 Top 100 players list. He came in ahead of Ben Simmons, De’Aaron Fox, Brandon Ingram and Russell Westbrook, who were ranked Nos. 31-34 in that order.
Many rankings haven’t placed Gilgeous-Alexander this high, and that’s in large part due to a relatively small sample size. He played just 35 games last season, his first as the go-to option on offense.
But Sports Illustrated has seen enough.
“Gilgeous-Alexander played in only 35 games in 2021 but shined bright enough to be No. 30 on this list. His offensive profile would make an analytics nerd blush: Over 50% from the field, over 40% from three, and over six free-throw attempts a game.”
In fact, the Thunder guard was so good last year, SI analyst Rohan Nadkarni acknowledged that the team may have to speed up their rebuild.
“Only entering his fourth season, if SGA builds on his 2021 numbers the Thunder should seriously consider speeding up their rebuild.”
Gilgeous-Alexander is the only Thunder player to make it onto Sports Illustrated’s top 100 list.
That’s unsurprising, but the rest of the cast will try to be sufficient weapons for him as they enter the second year with SGA in charge.
