Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder broke Wilt Chamberlain's record for most consecutive 20-point games on Thursday night against the Boston Celtics. It's the latest achievement in a long line that indicates his status as one of (if not the) best player(s) in the NBA.
But, as usual, fans will find anything they can to deride a successful player. For Gilgeous-Alexander, these criticisms have centered on his free-throws. There is a belief amongst much of the league, including opposing coaches and players, that Gilgeous-Alexander has an unfairly advantageous whistle.
In a way, this makes perfect sense. Gilgeous-Alexander is an expert at drawing contact in his shooting motion, especially in the mid-range. He is one of the most frustrating players to defend in the entire league. Criticism of the way his possessions are refereed is fair.
But to minimize his game entirely, especially with terms like 'free-throw merchant', is an untenable form of disrespect. It is, in fact, a misunderstanding of his game entirely.
Gilgeous-Alexander is the most dominant isolation scorer in the entire NBA, and his statistics, when isolated even to those possessions, tell an entirely different story.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is an expert at drawing contact, but his game is not dependent upon it
Oklahoma City is one of the best ball-movement teams in the league. Their synergy and cohesion on the offensive end of the floor necessitates it. But it all starts with Gilgeous-Alexander's ability to collapse the defense and get the ball to his spots at an absolutely undeniable rate.
Once he gets there, he's absolutely lethal. Through 49 games played this season, Gilgeous-Alexander leads the league in both total isolation field goals made (132) and isolation field goal percentage (50.4%), among players with 200 isolation shots attempted.
When dealing with a player of this magnitude, often the only thing defenders can do is gamble in an attempt to stop him from getting to these spots. Does Gilgeous-Alexander sometime draw contact in questionable ways? Sure.
But it's the pure efficiency that is the most impressive and impactful part of his game.
Among the six players with 200 isolation field goals attempted, Gilgeous-Alexander sits a full four percentage points in free-throw frequency behind James Harden and only three points ahead of Jaylen Brown.
Nikola Jokic, meanwhile, has just 84 isolation possessions on the season, and he averages 7.9 free throws per game.
It's fine to be frustrated with the way Gilgeous-Alexander plays. From a fan's perspective, it can often be boring or mechanical. But from a pure basketball perspective, to minimize his game to free-throw shooting is a discredit to his undeniable dominance.