This Is A Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Appreciation Blog After He Ripped Out The Lakers Soul Last Night

First off, absolutely hilarious and cold-blooded shot. 16 on the shot clock, Thunder up 3 with about 1:20 to go. You know what? Let me just stop here on the L real quick and deliver the dagger. That's SGA though. This is why SGA deserves an appreciation blog. Think about his rise. He was originally committed to go to Florida as a 4-star recruit out of Canada. Not bad, but not this. Then he backs out of the commitment and decides to go to Kentucky over UNLV, Kansas, Texas and Syracuse. Even then he was the other recruit. Quade Green was the consensus top-25 point guard. Nick Richards and PJ Washington were both top-15 guys. Hami Diallo was there the semester prior and a 5-star. Kevin Knox was the prize commit of the class. SGA and Jemarl Baker were seen as guys that would be in Lexington for multiple years and you could move SGA around from on ball, off ball.

Then it happened. 

He became one of the two options with Kevin Knox. Quade Green went down with an injury, SGA stepped in and was IMMEDIATELY better. Cal realized it and let SGA cook. He declared after his freshman year, ends up 11th overall and starts to do the same thing with the Thunder after being traded from the Clippers for Paul George. It's remarkable. He's sort of in the same spot where he's forgotten. You start listing the great young players and SGA becomes 'oh yeah, him too.' 

What has he done since then? Averaged 19 per game his first year with OKC. Averaged over 23 a game last year before getting hurt. This year he's over 23 again. The dude is just so fucking good. And now he's got a little attitude to go with it. He realizes he can kill a team. That's what he did with the Lakers last night. He saw and opportunity and he struck. He's making the Thunder watchable despite being 2-6.