The 2025 NBA Finals is set to begin on Thursday night as the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder will do battle to see who will win the first title in their franchise’s history. The Pacers and Thunder have been the two best teams in the league since Jan. 1 so this is expected to be a fantastic matchup.
The Thunder are led by MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who has a bit of a throwback style in terms of him relying on hid mid-range game. He averaged a league-leading 32.7 points along with 6.4 assists and 5.0 rebounds during the regular season and is now averaging 29.8 points and 6.9 assists during the playoffs.
Former Philadelphia 76ers guard Danny Green spoke with The Toronto Sun and made a bold claim about Gilgeous-Alexander:
“I love the fact that he still, he reminds me of Kobe (Bryant). He still does a lot in the mid-range and a lot of footwork and fundamentals,” Green said.
“A lot of people are not happy or disappointed with how many threes are being taken and that we don’t have traditional back-to-the-basket games anymore, post-ups and go with big men, and have mid-range games. And it was kind of being pushed out of the game and becoming obsolete.
“So the fact that (Gilgeous-Alexander and others), they mix up their game and they make sure that they continue to not only improve, but show how important it is to be able to score on all levels, to be able to defend and to do all the other little things that matter, outside of shooting the ball from the three-point line.”
Gilgeous-Alexander has a long way to go before he can reach Bryant, but Green making this comparison makes some sense. Both players rely so much on elite footwork and a feathery touch in the mid-range rather than an overabundance of 3s and focus on trying to get the bucket. That’s the only thing that matters.
Green played 133 games across three seasons for the Sixers and averaged 7.7 points and 3.2 rebounds while shooting 39.5% from deep.