Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s next evolution: Why the 2-time MVP should give up touches to his Thunder teammates

Ten years ago, the Thunder needed Russell Westbrook to do just about everything. James Harden was long gone, and Kevin Durant had left for Golden State, leaving Russ as both their star quarterback and workhorse running back. He became an MVP. But an offense built around one player doing it all became predictable and exhausting.

Russ got more help when Paul George arrived in 2017, but three consecutive first-round exits eventually sent Oklahoma City into a rebuild. 

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Now, the Thunder have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a two-time MVP and NBA champion with a deeper roster around him. He plays a different style than Russ, but he has also carried an enormous offensive load. Given the lessons Oklahoma City learned from the Westbrook experience, and the possibility that Shai’s enormous workload finally began to catch up with him deep in the playoffs last season, I wonder whether SGA’s next evolution will involve something Russ never fully embraced with the Thunder: Doing less.

Maybe Gilgeous-Alexander’s evolution has already begun.

(Ethan Palowitz/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

This summer, while playing for Team Canada in World Cup qualifying, Gilgeous-Alexander asked head coach Gordie Herbert to let him play more off the ball. That gave Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Andrew Nembhard more opportunities to initiate while Shai found other ways to attack. Both Alexander-Walker and Nembhard ended up running more pick-and-rolls than Shai.

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After Canada’s win over Puerto Rico, Herbert said Shai was “tougher to guard off the ball” because defenses had a harder time trapping him. That assessment is debatable, considering Shai has become one of the world’s most unstoppable scorers with the ball. But the idea to shift off the ball came from SGA himself.

⁣In two games for Canada, Gilgeous-Alexander attempted four corner 3s and two 3s off screens. In 83 regular season and playoff games for Oklahoma City last season, he took only 13 corner 3s and six off-screen 3s. Two games are a tiny sample, but the change in his shot diet was striking.

Maybe this was just a wrinkle for Canada, but OKC should think about taking a…

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Author : Kevin O'Connor

Publish date : 2026-09-24 13:40:00

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