Fact or Fiction: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the best player left in the NBA Cup

[ad_1]

Each week during the 2024-25 NBA season, we will take a deeper dive into some of the league’s biggest storylines in an attempt to determine whether trends are based more in fact or fiction moving forward.

[Last week: LeBron James’ Lakers are stuck in the middle]

Fact or Fiction: SGA is the best player left in the NBA Cup

The NBA Cup field is down to four teams. As much as we respect the collection of talent on the Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets — and they are good teams (maybe not championship good but “could win the NBA Cup” good) — the question of who is the best player left in the tournament is two names long.

The Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are the two favorites to win NBA Cup MVP, according to BetMGM. They also join the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Dončić and Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić as favorites to win the league’s regular-season MVP award.

Antetokounmpo is an establishment superstar, a two-time MVP, chasing his third. The 30-year-old has been a top-four MVP candidate since the 2018-19 season, when Gilgeous-Alexander made his NBA debut. Gilgeous-Alexander, runner-up to Jokić for last year’s MVP, is new to this conversation. To even have the discussion, measuring Gilgeous-Alexander against Antetokounmpo, is a credit to the 26-year-old’s rise.

But let us have it now: Who is enjoying the superior season?

Traditionally speaking, there is no clear statistical difference between the two.

Antetokounmpo (22 games): 32.7 PTS (61/18/61), 11.4 REB, 6.0 AST (3.5 TO), 1.5 BLK, 0.6 STL

Gilgeous-Alexander (24 games): 30.2 PTS (52/34/86), 5.4 REB, 6.3 AST (2.7 TO), 1.8 STL, 1.0 BLK

The numbers reflect their different styles. Antetokounmpo is a wrecking ball, wreaking havoc at the rim on both ends of the court. Gilgeous-Alexander is a carving knife, slicing into lanes on either side of the floor and serving everyone.

If you want to argue that Antetokounmpo’s rebounding is a difference-maker here, as is his length on defense, where that can go unnoticed in the box score, I am with you. I also think Gilgeous-Alexander’s three-level scoring is as impactful,…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/fact-or-fiction-shai-gilgeous-alexander-is-the-best-player-left-in-the-nba-cup-160608964.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-12-13 16:06:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.