Most Improved Player: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Two years ago, SGA was handed the keys to an Oklahoma City offense that was suddenly driverless after losing Chris Paul and Dennis Schröder. He responded with a breakout campaign—a 23.7-point scoring average and deadeye 3-point shooting off the bounce—that was ultimately dampened by the Thunder’s race to the bottom and SGA missing the season’s final 29 games.
What Gilgeous-Alexander is doing now, though, can’t be ignored. He currently ranks seventh in points per game, sixth in PER, first in drives per game, first in 2-point baskets, tied for third in steals, eighth in win shares, ninth in estimated plus/minus, and seventh in usage rate on a would-be-tanking Thunder team that’s outscoring opponents by 3.8 points per 100 possessions when he plays.
SGA always has been a savant getting downhill, but his body control on drives to the rim is more advanced now. The way he changes speeds makes guarding him feel like you’re trying to sip an open mug of hot coffee in stop-and-go traffic. All pump fakes, pivots, and sharp shoulders. His Euro-step might as well take place on a cloud, an airy hop into his teardrop floater. It’s this lithe combination of strength, deceleration, length, and unbridled creativity that makes stopping Gilgeous-Alexander’s progress one of this season’s hardest tasks.
If reports of him getting antsy in Oklahoma City prove true, several backcourt-needy teams with assets to burn (think Pelicans, Knicks, Heat, Wizards, Raptors, and … Jazz/Spurs?) would be very wise to invest. Gilgeous-Alexander was really good coming into this season. Now he’s one of the most unstoppable scorers in basketball and very well could be a front-runner in the next category, too, if he played for a team that wasn’t likely to be terrible by the time All-Star voting closes.
Honorable mention: Desmond Bane,
Devin Vassell, Anfernee Simons, Bol Bol