Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is undoubtedly a cornerstone to the OKC Thunder's rebuilding process.
The 23-year-old guard, in his third season with the franchise, continues to emphasize the above-mentioned statement with every game.
On Wednesday night, the Canadian recorded just his second career triple-double in a 108-94 win against a Denver Nuggets squad that is shorthanded but is led by the reigning MVP in Nikola Jokic.
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In the third quarter, when OKC really seized control of the game, the 6-foot-6 guard scored or assisted on 14 of the team's 28 points as they doubled up the Nuggets' points tally in the period.
"I just tried to make the right basketball play," he said postgame reacting to his triple-double.
❝Playing my game, getting to my spots and trusting my work❞@NickAGallo 🎤 @shaiglalex pic.twitter.com/gD5zXH5Dz3
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 23, 2021
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 27 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds in the victory, the Thunder's third straight and fifth in the last eight games. This performance comes just a couple of days after he knocked down a game-winning triple at the buzzer to defeat his former team in the LA Clippers.
In the midst of a rebuild, where the team is either still developing its role players or looking to acquire talents to field beside its star players, it's difficult for any player to have a positive net rating.
SGA tonight:
— StatMuse (@statmuse) December 23, 2021
27 PTS
11 REB
12 AST
OKC has a win percentage of .530 when Shai plays — .167 when he doesn’t. pic.twitter.com/OFzZHyvrrm
Thus, to add to the stat mentioned above, it's the team's net rating without SGA that tells the story. When he's on the bench, the Thunder have a negative 12.9 net rating which is a huge fall from the negative 5.2 net rating while he's on the floor.
MORE: SGA sinks Clippers with buzzer-beating triple
Another anecdote is his win-loss splits. In the 11 wins this season, he's averaging 23.1 points, 7.4 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals with a plus-minus of +6.3. Whereas in losses, those numbers read - 20.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists with a plus-minus of -10.8.
Playing alongside future emerging stars in Luguentz Dort and Josh Giddey, SGA's numbers have taken a hit and are not close to his career highs.
However, the advanced stats do tell a different story and silence the concerns and questions, if there were any, regarding his capability to be the face of the franchise's rebuild.
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