Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to reach new heights.
Following a breakout 2022-23 season that saw him earn his first All-Star and All-NBA selections, the 25-year-old has led the charge in what has been a dominant showing from Canada at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Canada cruised through the first round of group play at the tournament. It then suffered a disappointing loss to Brazil, but it bounced back with a historic victory over Spain and advanced to the semifinals by defeating Luka Doncic's Slovenia. Canada is now only two wins away from a gold medal.
What has been the secret to Gilgeous-Alexander's World Cup success? Let's take a closer look.
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How Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is dominating the World Cup
Through six games at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 25.0 points, putting him behind only Jordan Clarkson (26.0) and Luka Doncic (26.7) for the highest scoring average in the tournament. He's been remarkably efficient, too. Gilgeous-Alexander is shooting only 32.0 percent on a relatively low volume of 3s, but he's connected on 63.9 percent of his 2-point attempts and 88.9 percent of his free throws.
If you're familiar with Gilgeous-Alexander's game, you won't be surprised by the way he's been cooking teams. Not only has he been attacking the basket relentlessly, but he's been automatic from midrange. According to InStat, he's 16-for-29 from floater range and 5-for-10 on long 2s.
He's actually shooting better from those areas (53.8 percent) than he is at the rim (50.0 percent).
Those numbers are even more impressive considering the degree of difficulty on many of his attempts.
Canada isn't short on talent, but Gilgeous-Alexander still creates a lot of his own offense. (InStat has over half of his scoring coming in isolation and pick-and-rolls.) The team's best offense is often to give him the ball and get out of his way. He's too big for most guards to stay in front of and too slippery for most bigs to stick with on an island.
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Gilgeous-Alexander is also a master at creating space. He's come close to sending a few defenders to the ground in the World Cup with his rather vicious step back.
That's no exaggeration. He did this to Latvia:
This to Spain:
And this to Slovenia:
There's even more where that came from.
Gilgeous-Alexander hasn't just been getting buckets, either. He's averaging 7.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.7 steals per game, all of which lead Canada and are among the highest marks in the tournament. Only Carlik Jones, Nikola Milutinov, Karl-Anthony Towns and Jonas Valanciunas have more double-doubles. He pulled down 13 rebounds against France and 10 rebounds against Slovenia, and he dished out seven assists in Canada's win over Spain.
Canada has already locked up a spot in the Paris Olympics, but there's still more for it to play for. A win against Serbia on Friday would punch its ticket to the final and keep the hope of winning a gold medal alive.
Individually, Gilgeous-Alexander has a chance of joining the likes of Kyrie Irving, Dirk Nowitzki and Shaquille O'Neal as the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Based on HoopsHype's Global Rating, he has been the best player at the World Cup, and it hasn't been particularly close.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stats
FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023
- 30.4 minutes per game
- 25.0 points per game
- 7.2 rebounds per game
- 5.0 assists per game
- 1.7 steals per game
- 0.2 blocks per game
- 1.3 turnovers per game
- 1.3 fouls per game
- 54.7 percent field goal shooting
- 32.0 percent 3-point shooting
- 88.9 percent free throw shooting
NBA career
- 32.6 minutes per game
- 21.1 points per game
- 4.6 rebounds per game
- 4.5 assists per game
- 1.2 steals per game
- 0.7 blocks per game
- 2.3 turnovers per game
- 2.2 fouls per game
- 48.4 percent field goal shooting
- 34.7 percent 3-point shooting
- 84.5 percent free throw shooting
