OKC Thunder: Gilgeous-Alexander stat comparison adds sting to All-Star snub

Former OKC Thunder big man Sabonis arguably greatest coaches snub

While I could make a very strong argument for Fred VanVleet the bigger snub is Domantas Sabonis who is averaging 21.5 points, 11.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.0 steals, and even improved his 3-point stroke to 35.8 percent.

He’s the first player in NBA history to average minimums of 20 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists not to make an All-Star team.

Sabonis has collected three triple-doubles, and 21 double-doubles in his 29 games this season missing those marks on only five occasions including one game when he had to leave early due to injury.

In contrast, Nikola Vucevic is averaging 24.1 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.1 steals and shooting 40.5 percent from deep. Vuc has one triple-double and -21 double-double through 31 games.

While those are brilliant numbers it’s hard to get past the comparison and why the coaches afforded him the spot over Sabonis.

It’s inconceivable to me how Sabonis doesn’t get the nod over Vucevic. Firstly, the Pacers (4th) are eight seeds higher than the Magic. And while Orlando is missing Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz, Indiana is missing TJ Warren and Caris LeVert plus Jeremy Lamb was out 13 of the Pacers 29 games.

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More importantly, other than 3-point shooting Sabonis has better stats particularly his assists and he’s pretty much a nightly guaranteed double-double machine.

If Sabonis hadn’t been selected in favor of a player from a top-eight seed this would make more sense.  Zach LaVine would’ve garnered one of the wild card spots presumably, but he’s putting up major statistics that helped push the Bulls ahead of the Hornets into the eighth seed just in the last day.

That means three players (including Beal who was voted in by fans/media/players) make the squad and the middle two teams get the shaft.

Later today, Intentions takes a deeper dive into SGA’s biggest competition to get tapped as the player to fill the opening created by Anthony Davis’ injury.

Already there are teams jockeying to get their guy in and it’s a good bet Adam Silver will get a few calls from team GMs in the coming days.

To that end, make sure to hit social media with some polite reminders on why OKC Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the worthy choice!