The 2020-21 season is officially over for the OKC Thunder and, for many, it’s quite a relief.
After such a disastrous season, where Oklahoma City finished things off with their second-worst record (win-percentage wise) in franchise history at 22-50, Sam Presti and the rest of their front office now can begin putting their plans for their full-fledged rebuild into effect via the upcoming draft, free agency, and through potential offseason trades.
When in the early stages of a tank, things tend to not look so pretty. However, for a large portion of the year, the Thunder were very much an enjoyable and fun team to watch for both fans of the organization of the sport as a whole.
Easily the biggest reason for why things wound up looking up in such a down season was due to the stupendous play of their third-year combo guard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Without a doubt an All-Star snub, SGA finished off his first year as top-dog within the team’s pecking order boasting stupendous all-around averages of 23.7 points, 5.9 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and just shy of both a steal and a block per game.
While on the surface these nightly outputs already seem to be impressive, when looking at how his production stacks up in comparison to other players across the league, we begin to understand just how stellar his level of play was throughout the year and, more specifically, how elite he proved to be.
At just 22-years-old, Gilgeous-Alexander was one of only three total players from this past campaign to post a per-game logline of 23+ points and 5+ assists on over 54 percent shooting from the floor and 41 percent shooting from deep.
His fellow cohorts: Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.
That’s it!
What makes this even more impressive is that Gilgeous-Alexander managed to accomplish this while working mostly in isolation sets. According to the numbers, about 87 percent of his shot makes went unassisted which, according to NBA.com, is the highest-ranking among players who managed to appear in at least 20 regular-season games.
When your name finds itself intertwined with two players that have a combined five NBA championships, three league MVPs, and 18 All-Star selections, it’s evident that you’re doing something right.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finishing off the 2020-21 season in such an elite club should not go understated or underappreciated.
With him in tow moving forward, the future for the OKC Thunder seems blindingly bright.