The Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers are the remaining unbeaten teams in the NBA. The Thunder have gotten off to an impressive start. They have won all four of their games by 12 or more points. However, even though they have gotten off to a great start, they haven’t played great on both sides yet. Their defense has been the league’s best so far, forcing turnover after turnover. However, it has been their offense that has struggled immensely through these first couple of games ranking just 23rd in the league. A big reason for their offense struggling is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander getting off to a slow start to begin the 2024-2025 season.
Shai has not looked like himself in these first four games. In Shai’s previous two seasons, he averaged 30.7 points per game, shooting 52.3% from the field and 35% from three. However, this year, he has been nowhere near those numbers, averaging 26.0 points per game, shooting 42.7% from the field and 27.3% from three. Even though he has gotten off to a slow start, there is an easy way for him to get back on track. Let’s take a look at why he is struggling and how Shai can turn around his slow start.
How Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Can Turnaround Slow Start
Shai Isn’t Driving to The Hoop Enough
One of the biggest reasons that made Shai so dominant was his relentless drive to the rim. In the previous two seasons, he led the league with drives to the hoop. In those two seasons, he averaged 23.6 drives per game. However, through the first four games, he hasn’t driven nearly as much. He is only averaging 19 drives a game, which is four fewer drives a game. One of the biggest strengths of this Thunder offense a year ago was the drive and kick game. That all started with Shai driving to the hoop constantly and collapsing the defense to where there were open shooters on the outside. Shai needs to get back to that relentless attack on the rim that he did in the previous two seasons.
Furthermore, since he isn’t attacking the rim as much, his free-throw attempts are down. Shai is only averaging 5.3 free throw attempts compared to the 9.7 he averaged in the previous two seasons. That is 4.5 fewer attempts per game, and Shai could be getting at least four more points per game if he can get back to that number. Last year, if the Thunder’s offense was struggling throughout the game, the Thunder would have Shai drive and try drawing a foul to get their offense going in cold streaks. They haven’t done that enough this year.
Needs to Get Back to The Mid-Range Game
Besides driving to the hoop, another dimension of his game was the mid-range shot. He has been one of the best mid-range shooters in the last two seasons. Last season, he took 4.48 mid-range shots per game, shooting an efficient 49.4 percent. However, this year, he has gotten away from taking those shots quite a bit. He is down to only taking 1.75 mid-range shots per game and is shooting 42.9 percent on these shots. Shai, getting back to his mid-range game and relentless attack at the rim, should be able to turn this slow start around.
He is Taking Too Many Threes
Finally, one of the biggest reasons for his slow start has been his three-point shooting. In the previous two seasons, he didn’t take many threes, only attempting 3.1 a game. In addition, he shot 35.9 percent on those threes. This offseason, he has worked more on his three-point shooting and added a new pull-up three-shot to his game. With Mark Daigneault encouraging his players to take more threes, Shai has done so as well. He is now averaging 8.3 attempts per game but only shooting 27.3%. This has been a steep jump from a player who has been a streaky shooter throughout his career so far.
Of those 8.3 attempts per game, he is taking some of them through the flow of the offense. However, there have also been some of which he is forcing too much. It just seems like he is trying too hard to take more threes and is losing the style of play that made him an MVP candidate. Shai taking more threes and adding more of a three-point game is a good thing and will make him even harder to guard. However, he shouldn’t be taking nearly as many as he is. If he can drop that number to about six a game and start getting back to more of his style of play, that made him an MVP candidate he will be better off and get back on track for the season.
Last Word on Shai’s Slow Start
Even though Shai has gotten off to a slow start to begin the year, it is an easy fix for him to get back on track. In these four games, it just seems like he is losing his play-style of what made him so dominant and is forcing way too many threes. If he can get back to his mid-range, and relentless pressure at the rim, and only take around six threes a game. Shai should easily get back to being one of the best efficient scorers in the NBA and get back to that 30 points per game he has been averaging in the last two seasons.
