{"id":63996,"date":"2025-05-29T14:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T14:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/63996\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T14:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T14:57:10","slug":"shai-gilgeous-alexander-saved-the-nba-former-nba-player-makes-bold-claim-about-copycat-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/63996\/","title":{"rendered":"“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Saved The NBA” – Former NBA Player Makes Bold Claim About Copycat League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Presti’s process has paid off for the Thunder<\/a> as they now reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> could become the first MVP since Stephen Curry<\/a> in 2015 to win the regular season MVP and the NBA championship. After their Game 4 win over the Timberwolves<\/a>, Jeff-Teague<\/a>, a former NBA player, claimed Gilgeous-Alexander has saved the NBA with his mid-range shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to say something about SGA,\u201d Teague said<\/a>. \u201cI think SGA saved the NBA. I\u2019m not saying it because of how he performs, but the way he plays.”<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe saved the NBA because it\u2019s a copycat league, and he perfected the midrange game. So he brought back the ability to shoot the midrange shots. It was either a three or a layup. I got crucified in Minnesota for shooting midrange shots.”<\/p>\n

\u201cHim being the MVP, and his go-to shot is a midrange, he literally just saved the NBA. That\u2019s a shot that, if you can perfect it, you\u2019re always going to get a good shot.\u00a0Defenses are made for you to take that shot, and he perfected it. It looks crazy because you let him get to his bread and butter, and he\u2019s scoring at will.”<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made it acceptable again because even though his game is very smooth, he\u2019s not the most entertaining person, but if you watch basketball, you\u2019re like, \u2018How is he so effective?'”<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s all based on his ability to get to the midrange. So now other people watching know they\u2019ve got to be a three-level scorer because they\u2019ve got to be able to get a good shot every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Gilgeous-Alexander shot 57.08% from the two-point range (697 of 1221), including mid-range shots and finishes at the rim (layups or dunks) in the regular season. Teague is right to the extent that Gilgeous-Alexander saved the mid-range shot from dying as a trend among the new generation of basketball players, but not the league as a whole.<\/p>\n

What LeBron James Said About Gilgeous-Alexander’s Mid-Range Game<\/p>\n

LeBron James went on his podcast ‘Mind the Game’ with Steve Nash last week and claimed shot creators like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have helped burst the myth that mid-range shots are dead as an offensive option for teams in the modern NBA.<\/p>\n

“The (shot) creators in our game have always worked on mid-ranges,” James said<\/a>. “The common fan will say there are no mid-ranges in our game. It’s just fastbreaks, layups, threes, and free throws. But that’s just absolutely not true.” <\/p>\n

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His mid-range game has helped him average 30+ points for the third regular season in a row. 31.4 points per game in 2022-23, 30.1 points per game in 2023-24 and 32.7 points per game this season. He also earned the Michael Jordan MVP Award<\/a> for his performance in 2024-25 and the Magic Johnson West Finals MVP award<\/a> for his performance in the series against the Timberwolves.<\/p>\n

It is becoming clear that the league is recognizing Gilgeous-Alexander, and with his rising fame, he will become a role model for more young players to emulate.<\/p>\n

Related: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Joins Elite List With Michael Jordan, LeBron James After Game 5 Win In West Finals<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Presti’s process has paid off for the Thunder as they now reach the NBA Finals for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,623,185,6,15599,209,573,2543,308],"class_list":{"0":"post-63996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-gilgeous-alexander","10":"tag-lebron-james","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-regular-season-mvp","13":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","14":"tag-stephen-curry","15":"tag-steve-nash","16":"tag-timberwolves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114591710910774654","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}