Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s rise to MVP frontrunner with the Oklahoma City Thunder has vindicated a bold prediction he made early in his career, according to Detroit Pistons guard Dennis Schroder.
When Gilgeous-Alexander arrived in Oklahoma City in 2019 as part of the Paul George trade package from the Los Angeles Clippers, the then-second-year guard made a striking claim to his new teammate Schroder.
“One thing that really pops out, Shai said, ‘I don’t know why they traded me for Paul George.’ I was like, ‘What you mean?’ He said, ‘He’s not better than me,'” said Schroder to Sportsnet.ca
At that time, George was coming off a season where he averaged 28 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.2 steals per game, earning first-team All-NBA and All-Defense honors while finishing third in MVP voting.
Nearly six years later, Gilgeous-Alexander has established himself as the leading candidate for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award, averaging a league-leading 32.7 points along with 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.7 steals while shooting 51.7 percent from the field.
Mark Daigneault noted that Gilgeous-Alexander’s emergence as an elite player became evident during the NBA bubble in 2020, when practices revealed “another gear with the ball in his hands that maybe we haven’t seen because of the other guys on the team.”
This season, Gilgeous-Alexander joined Michael Jordan and James Harden as the only players in NBA history to average at least 32 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 1.5 steals with a True Shooting percentage of 60.0 or better.
“I mean, he’s not arrogant, it’s just his confidence is through the roof,” Schroder said. “Because he knows how much work he puts in. And you can see it on the court, too. He’s got that dog in him, and he’s doing it real silent, too… he’s not really a talker. But when you go at him, he’s like, ‘Okay, but I’m gonna show you.’ And when he goes at you, it’s gonna be a long night, you know?”
“If I had the exact same numbers I had and we were 10th in the West, [the numbers] wouldn’t matter,” Gilgeous-Alexander said about his MVP candidacy. “The reason why I have my success is because of this team and because of this group, and that’s all it’s really about. I always say it’s about winning, and when you win, everything else falls in line.”