Sports
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is sneakily becoming an all-time NBA scorer
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander puts a lot of effort into his appearance. Fashion is a clear passion. His postgame news conferences double as video shorts for Harper’s Bazaar.
I am impressed by a player who can pull off something shimmery or wear fur up to his chin while sporting a do-rag and dark sunglasses. Far be it for me to pose as a fashion critic. This is not an assessment of whether he pulls it off, though I’d say he absolutely does. I dress like a journalist styled by deadlines concerned only with a nice pair of sneakers and something that disguises the coffee I’m sure to spill on my hoodie. My fashion critiques are useless.
But the SGA off the court and the version of him in the Oklahoma City Thunder uniform represent a striking juxtaposition. The former tries really hard to be stunning. The latter makes it look so effortless.
Gilgeous-Alexander is not just an elite scorer; he’s so, so smooth with it. Watching him get buckets is almost therapeutic. Right before our eyes, he’s blossomed into a historic scoring machine. His handle is silkier than one of his half-buttoned shirts. He doesn’t wow you with dribble moves, but he handles the rock so fluidly. His moves and counters. The improvisational way he manipulates leverage and shifts into spaces. And it’s all punctuated with a midrange jumper that ol’ heads would call butter.
SGA is one to watch as the NBA Cup transitions to the quarterfinals. One of the benefits of this in-season tournament — and the hype surrounding it — is gems like Gilgeous-Alexander get to shine. In a league that loves showcasing its prolific offensive players, he is unique among the game’s best.
GO DEEPER
How playing without a center made the Thunder even more dangerous
A big game from Giannis Antetokounmpo is like a muscle car with Flowmasters roaring through a school zone. Nothing about Jayson Tatum’s scoring looks easy.
Ever see Luka Dončić go off? It’s spectacular. But he makes it look so laborious. You need a cigarette and a cold one afterward just from watching.
Anthony Edwards is simply exciting. He’s all flair. As is Nikola Jokić. Even though Joker is smooth in his own right, it just has the subtlety of an elephant C-walking to “Not Like Us.” His version of smoothness is seizing.
SGA sneaks up on you. He just goes to work, and you look up and he’s got 30 again. Like he rolls out of bed to 20 points.
He’s the new Kevin Durant in that sense. You know how KD makes putting the ball in the basket feel like breathing? How it feels so automatic as to be inevitable? SGA is of that ilk. Smooth for no reason. He scores like cats walk. Like Les Twins dance. Like Penelope Cruz says “Nespresso.”
Gilgeous-Alexander already is on pace for a third season averaging 30 points per game or more. If he does, he’d be one of 16 players in NBA history to average 30 or more three times. (Giannis also is on pace for his third such season.) Only 23 players have multiple seasons averaging 30-plus.
Even SGA’s free-throw grifting is slick. He’s fourth in attempts this season, behind Giannis, Anthony Davis and James Harden.
SGA often looks unstoppable. Yet, his career-high is only 45. This is his seventh season, and he’s scored 40 or more only 14 times.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on pace for a third season averaging at least 30 points per game. (Troy Taormina / Imagn Images)
His modus operandi isn’t especially explosive. He doesn’t often get hot and go wild. He’s not one for superb peaks and periodic valleys.
Gilgeous-Alexander is just at the same level. Perennially. Humbly, even. Cooking defenses like it’s a 9-to-5. Over the last two-plus seasons, totaling 164 games, he has just 10 games where he’s failed to score 20.
Not too high. Not too low. Just in the same groove. Unimpeded by smaller defenders or bigger ones, quicker ones or stronger ones. At 6-foot-6, he has just enough athleticism and strength and leaping ability to counter just about any defense.
If SGA continues at this current pace, he will be the 10th player to average 30 in three straight seasons. The other nine: Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Adrian Dantley, Bob McAdoo, James Harden and Joel Embiid. Yes, Gilgeous-Alexander is already among the upper echelon of bucket-getters.
Durant has only averaged 30 twice. Same for Stephen Curry, Rick Barry and George Gervin, among others.
What’s even rarer about SGA is his road to success. He’s become this unstoppable scorer despite not entering the NBA as such. He averaged 14.4 points his one season at Kentucky and was drafted two picks after college teammate Kevin Knox.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 10.8 points as a rookie despite 73 starts. That puts him in another rare group along with Giannis, Kobe Bryant and Harden. They are the four players in NBA history who have averaged 30 points in a season after averaging fewer than 11 points as a rookie.
Most of the NBA’s great single-season scorers came into the league getting buckets. Of the 37 players all-time who have averaged 30 points in a season, 16 of them averaged at least 20 points as rookies. Another nine averaged at least 15.
Most of the bunch were scorers from the beginning of their careers, better than two-thirds. They announced themselves early. You knew what they were in the league to do.
SGA kinda sneaked up on us. Slithered into rarified air. Most had never heard of him until he was the key piece in a massive deal for Paul George. Now at 26, he’s already a more accomplished offensive weapon than PG.
And SGA’s 3-ball isn’t refined yet. He shot 40.4 percent in college but is hitting just 34.8 percent over his pro career. He’s got the form and the touch. It figures to get to where he’s knocking down the 3 at a higher clip.
Could he be the next 30,000-point scorer? He’ll pass 10,000 this season. He could be at 20,000 by year No. 12. The pace tracks.
Sure, Gilgeous-Alexander defends and passes, and he is growing as a leader. But, man, just watch him work on offense. With the ball in his hands, anywhere near the free-throw line and the defender at his mercy, peep the rhythm of his flow. The simplicity of his jumper. The reliability of its conversion. The matter-of-factness in his demeanor. The fashion in which he dominates.
The fur coat and do-rag are but accessories.
(Top photo: Joshua Gateley / Getty Images)
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The 2026 NBA Draft finally saw the top college prospects get chosen along with some friendly fire among ESPN and basketball analysts on Tuesday night.
Jay Williams, Richard Jefferson and Kenny Smith were among those covering the draft and offering their analysis during the event. One exchange among the three former NBA players went awry and led to an awkward moment.
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
Jay Williams of the Chicago Bulls and Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs share a laugh during the 2003 got milk? Rookie Challenge Game at Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on Feb. 8, 2003. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE)
ESPN recalled the moments each former player was drafted. Smith went No. 6 overall in 1987 to the Sacramento Kings, Richard Jefferson was selected at No. 13 by the Houston Rockets before being traded to the New Jersey Nets in 2001 and Williams was chosen No. 2 overall by the Chicago Bulls in 2001. Williams’ career was cut short due to a motorcycle crash.
ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi asked why Williams received a big ovation. Williams explained that most people who had gone to Duke were from the New York or New Jersey area.
“They also didn’t see the future coming, so they were cheering,” Jefferson said.
Williams responded, “Wow.”
TNT basketball analyst Kenny Smith appears on air before the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the North Carolina State Wolfpack at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on April 6, 2024. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Smith admitted that Williams was an “unbelievable talent” but “his career trajectory would’ve been a lot different if he didn’t like motorcycles.”
Williams tried to brush it off, saying all of what Smith was saying was “on record” and that he “wrote a book about it.”
“I guess everybody that goes to Duke isn’t that smart,” Jefferson quipped. “What? He wrote a book about it. I’m agreeing with him.”
The awkwardness filled the air after that as the Toronto Raptors were getting ready to make a selection.
Williams’ incident occurred in June 2003. He suffered a fractured pelvis, three torn ligaments in his knee and he severed a nerve in his leg. Williams violated the terms of his contract by riding the motorcycle in the first place.
Referee Richard Jefferson watches the game between the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers during the 2022 Las Vegas Summer League at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev., on July 11, 2022. (Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
He tried to make his way back into the NBA through the G League but never got there. He played 75 games for the Bulls in his rookie season and averaged 9.5 points per game.
Major League Baseball says it has no concerns about Dodgers and Rams head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache working with players.
ElAttrache was questioned by MLB on June 12 following a detailed report by the New York Times that the renowned surgeon and sports medicine expert supported the therapeutic use of performance-enhancing drugs by UFC star Conor McGregor.
“MLB took our responsibility to conduct due diligence in this matter seriously. We interviewed Dr. Neal ElAttrache last week, covering multiple topics, and he answered our questions thoroughly,” MLB said in a statement obtained by The Times Tuesday night.
“Based on our interview, the review of relevant records, Dr. ElAttrache’s long history of support for and cooperation with the Joint Drug Program and the fact that no Therapeutic Use Exemption requests of this nature have been submitted by Dr. ElAttrache or anyone else, we do not have any concerns regarding Dr. ElAttrache’s treatment of MLB players, or his adherence to the Joint Drug Programs and related rules.
“We consider this matter closed.”
ElAttrache performed surgery on McGregor in July 2021, inserting a rod, plates and screws into his left leg after the fighter broke his tibia and fibula during a mixed martial arts bout against Dustin Poirier in Las Vegas.
McGregor’s recovery was lengthy and arduous. ElAttrache told the New York Times that while he did not prescribe steroids for McGregor, he referred him to a specialist who did. Furthermore, ElAttrache wrote a letter supporting McGregor’s request for a therapeutic use exemption from UFC drug policies.
“I felt it would be appropriate to consult other physicians with expertise in bone healing/bone metabolism,” ElAttrache told the New York Times via text. “I recommended the consultations but not the course of treatment.”
ElAttrache said he told McGregor to check with UFC drug testers about prescriptions the consultant gave him. “I purposely wasn’t involved with his evaluation by the consultant nor with prescribing medication,” ElAttrache said.
The exemption request was denied by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the drug testing organization the UFC used at the time, triggering a split between the two organizations. McGregor withdrew from the UFC anti-doping program shortly thereafter and no longer was required to undergo testing for banned substances.
The report prompted MLB to talk with ElAttrache about his approach to treating players.
ElAttrache, operating primarily out of the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, has performed elbow or shoulder surgeries on prominent Dodgers past and present, including Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin and Walker Buehler as well as former Rams stars Cooper Kupp and Cam Akers.
Among the hundreds of surgeries performed over three decades by ElAttrache, his patients include the four 2024 MLB most valuable player and Cy Young Award winners — Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Chris Sale and Tarik Skubal. ElAttrache’s patients include 18 of 29 players who won the MVP or Cy Young awards over the past 10 years.
“I have spoken with MLB and I am very comfortable with the process that the league and I will complete to assure the public that I have followed every rule and regulation in my medical treatment of athletes without exception,” ElAttrache said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times earlier this month. “My record is completely clean, including in this case.”
Times staff writers Steve Henson, Bill Shaikin, Sam Farmer and Gary Klein contributed to this report.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
As expected, the Washington Wizards have begun the 2026 NBA Draft by selecting BYU’s AJ Dybantsa with the first overall pick.
In a draft class loaded with “cant-miss prospects,” Dybantsa stood out above the rest, as the 6-foot-9, 217-pound forward put on a show with the Cougars in his one and only collegiate season.
Dybantsa averaged 25.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game, while shooting 51% from the field for BYU. He became the fifth Division-1 player in the last 40 seasons to average at least 25 points while shooting 50% from the field in a single season.
This is a breaking news story. More to come…
-
Tennessee36 seconds agoESPN updates NBA mock draft for Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Felix Okpara in second round
-
Texas6 minutes agoTexas lawmakers want fixes to statewide voter registration system ahead of midterms
-
Utah13 minutes ago‘Now’s our time’: Utah Jazz fans rejoice as Darryn Peterson gives them something they’ve been missing
-
Vermont16 minutes agoCosts — and frustrations — rise as Royalton waits for bridge
-
Virginia21 minutes agoNew Tiger Woods Golf Course Coming To Virginia Resort Community
-
Washington28 minutes agoParsing Trump’s claims about Washington’s reflecting pool
-
Wisconsin30 minutes agoHow Decelise Champion’s early arrival impacts Wisconsin volleyball
-
West Virginia35 minutes agoWV Celtic Festival and Highland Games
