The NBA season will be underway in just days, as every team has its eyes set on one particular goal: the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Currently, the trophy resides in Oklahoma City, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder took it home back in June.
The Thunder are now looking to repeat. Gilgeous-Alexander is now looking to somehow top his 2024-25 campaign, where the guard took home the Most Valuable Player award, All-NBA First Team, Finals MVP and the Best Male Athlete ESPY award. Throughout his short spurts of action in the preseason and what was shown as an evolving trait during the playoff run, Gilgeous-Alexander’s playmaking has gotten even better.
The reigning MVP came into the league as a talented combo guard prospect who was a great scorer who had strong defensive traits and the ability to grow into a crafty playmaker. Throughout his first three seasons, Gilgeous-Alexander was listed as a primary shooting guard; last season was his first year that he played 100% of his minutes at the point guard position, according to Basketball Reference’s position estimate.
Gilgeous-Alexander played alongside primary point guards Patrick Beverly, Chris Paul and George Hill in his first three seasons in the NBA. He played his first period of consistent run at point guard when George Hill got shut down with an injury and traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2020-21 season. This season was where the Canadian guard first broke out as a potential star before getting shut down after 35 games with plantar fasciitis.
Since making the full-time switch to the point guard position, Gilgeous-Alexander has made improvements as a playmaker every season. At first, he was a willing passer who struggled with tunnel vision at times; now, he is a true guard who knows exactly when to score or when to facilitate.
Despite leading the league in both field goal attempts and in scoring last season, Gilgeous-Alexander was still a good playmaker. In the playoffs, he took another step up, and that step continued in the preseason.
Gilgeous-Alexander put on multiple playmaking masterclasses, both on and off the ball, throughout the Thunder’s finals run last season. He had games like his 10-assist performance in Game 5 and his 12-assist performance in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, which he was untouched in terms of all-around performances.
Gilgeous-Alexander specializes in drawing the defense over to him and finding the openings that he creates around the perimeter or in the paint. This skillset shined bright in the playoffs.
In the preseason, Gilgeous-Alexander looked to have sparked yet another jump in his playmaking. Through three games played and only 19 minutes per game, he averaged 5.3 assists per game.
The Thunder superstar ran the pick-and-roll masterfully and created multiple open looks just from his passing ability. Two skills that are viable assets to any player’s game.
If Gilgeous-Alexander makes another leap in playmaking production, he will set himself up beautifully for the MVP race to come.
