What Will It Take For Thunder Guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander To Earn NBA All-Star Nod?

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is already one of the best players in the entire NBA at just 24 years old.

Over the past two seasons, the 6-foot-6 rising star produced 24.2 points, 5.9 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game while shooting 34.3% from deep and 52.5% from inside the arc. Furthermore, Gilgeous-Alexander has taken on the role of face of the franchise in Oklahoma City. On and off the court, he’s critical to the success of the Thunder now and in the future.

However, Gilgeous-Alexander has still never earned a spot on an NBA All-Star team.

There’s a variety of reasons for this, most notably the Western Conference being absolutely loaded with talent. The All-Star landscape is extremely competitive, with only a handful of guards getting the nod each season.

With that in mind, what will it take this season for Gilgeous-Alexander to make his first NBA All-Star team?

Staying Healthy

It’s nearly impossible to make the NBA All-Star game if you’re not on the court producing. This has been a problem for Gilgeous-Alexander in recent years, playing in only 91 games over the past two seasons.

After only competing in 35 games during the 2020-21 season, Gilgeous-Alexander was able to play in 56 games last season. While that was a step in the right direction, it’s still not enough.

If he wants to get the All-Star nod in his fifth stint, Gilgeous-Alexander will need to play in the majority of the games over the first few months of the season leading up to the break. At this point, it’s still unclear if he’ll be able to play on opening night next week as he recovers from a knee injury.

Restoring Efficiency

Gilgeous-Alexander arguably had his best NBA season during the 2020-21 campaign, when he was one of the most efficient players in the NBA. Not only did he average 23.7 points per game, but he did it while shooting 50.8% from the floor, 41.8% from deep and 80.8% from the free throw line.

This level of efficiency put him in rare company as one of only four players to be a top-25 scorer in the NBA at those splits. Gilgeous-Alexander joined Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Zach LaVine as the only players to average 20+ points per game on 50/40/80 splits in the 2020-21 season.

While Gilgeous-Alexander increased his scoring output in the following season, his efficiency fell. During the 2021-22 campaign, he shot 45.3% from the field, 30.0% from beyond the arc and 81.0% from the line. If he’s going to earn a spot as an NBA All-Star this year, he’s going to have to get that efficiency back up.

It will be difficult to get back to those splits, especially with the defensive schemes that are going to be thrown at him. However, if he’s going to be classified as one of the best players in the league, Gilgeous-Alexander will have to overcome that challenge.

Winning Games

Although this isn’t a new phenomenon, most players on teams near the bottom of the standings aren’t heavily considered for NBA All-Star selections. There’s been a few rare anomalies to this, but history tells us that your team has to win if you want to get the nod.

Interestingly enough, Gilgeous-Alexander actually believes that’s how it should be.

“I think it should be that way. The point of the game is to win. I think it matters a lot,” said Gilgeous-Alexander at Media Day earlier this month when asked about voters leaning towards players on winning teams.

For the Thunder to win enough games for Gilgeous-Alexander to earn a spot, it will take his teammates stepping up as well. If this happens, you’d have to imagine his assist numbers would be increased.

The past two seasons, he has produced exactly 5.9 assists per contest. If he can bump that up to seven or eight per game, he’ll start to gain some All-Star traction.

All-Star Moments

Especially on a team that only has one nationally televised game this season, Gilgeous-Alexander is going to have to make enough noise to get attention across the country. Whether it’s huge overall performances or single plays and moments that create waves around the league, he will need to jump off the page.

We saw a few of these moments from Gilgeous-Alexander last season, from a 39-point performance against the Houston Rockets to a game clinching shot from the logo against the Los Angeles Lakers.

In the 2022-23 season, we’ll need to see many more of these moments throughout the early part of the year if Gilgeous-Alexander is going to make his debut in the NBA All-Star Game.

There’s quite a bit of competition in the West as it relates to superstar guards, so there’s no guarantee Gilgeous-Alexander gets the nod regardless of what he does this season. Regardless, these are the things it will take to ensure he’s in the conversation.