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As Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on the verge of his first career MVP award and Western Conference Finals trip, the 26-year-old's play style has brought back an area of the game previously thought dead — the mid-range jumper.
Yep. Like skinny jeans and Air Force 1s, Gilgeous-Alexander has returned retro to mainstream. If you study up on culture long enough, you'll understand that everything eventually circles back. That applies to basketball, too.
Gilgeous-Alexander will likely win MVP and is the face of the title favorite. The Oklahoma City Thunder have destroyed the rest of the NBA all season to a historic 68-14 record and plus-12.9 point differential. They're a win away from the West Finals as they hold a 3-2 series lead over the Denver Nuggets.
On the "Mind the Game" podcast with Steve Nash, LeBron James referenced Gilgeous-Alexander on why the mid-range is more alive than ever. While defenses have hyperfixated on preventing outside looks and layups, that's opened up the middle as a vulnerable spot to expose.
"The (shot) creators in our game have always worked on mid-ranges," James said. "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."
As most Thunder fans know, Gilgeous-Alexander is a mid-range maestro. Along with drives to the basket, those are his two bread-and-butter spots that have turned him from an interesting prospect to one of the greatest 30-point scorers in NBA history.
Even though we should be used to it by now, it's always surreal to see a basketball icon like James praise Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder. Shows just how fast he's ascended from an underrated prospect into a household name in just three seasons.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: LeBron James argues Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has kept mid-range alive
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