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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's rise to MVP frontrunner with the Oklahoma City Thunder has vindicated a bold prediction he made early in his career, according to Detroit Pistons guard Dennis Schroder.

When Gilgeous-Alexander arrived in Oklahoma City in 2019 as part of the Paul George trade package from the Los Angeles Clippers, the then-second-year guard made a striking claim to his new teammate Schroder.

"One thing that really pops out, Shai said, 'I don't know why they traded me for Paul George.' I was like, 'What you mean?' He said, 'He's not better than me,'" said Schroder to Sportsnet.ca

At that time, George was coming off a season where he averaged 28 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.2 steals per game, earning first-team All-NBA and All-Defense honors while finishing third in MVP voting.

Nearly six years later, Gilgeous-Alexander has established himself as the leading candidate for the NBA's Most Valuable Player award, averaging a league-leading 32.7 points along with 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.7 steals while shooting 51.7 percent from the field.

Mark Daigneault noted that Gilgeous-Alexander's emergence as an elite player became evident during the NBA bubble in 2020, when practices revealed "another gear with the ball in his hands that maybe we haven't seen because of the other guys on the team."

This season, Gilgeous-Alexander joined Michael Jordan and James Harden as the only players in NBA history to average at least 32 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 1.5 steals with a True Shooting percentage of 60.0 or better.

"I mean, he's not arrogant, it's just his confidence is through the roof," Schroder said. "Because he knows how much work he puts in. And you can see it on the court, too. He's got that dog in him, and he's doing it real silent, too... he's not really a talker. But when you go at him, he's like, 'Okay, but I'm gonna show you.' And when he goes at you, it's gonna be a long night, you know?"

"If I had the exact same numbers I had and we were 10th in the West, [the numbers] wouldn't matter," Gilgeous-Alexander said about his MVP candidacy. "The reason why I have my success is because of this team and because of this group, and that's all it's really about. I always say it's about winning, and when you win, everything else falls in line."

Via Michael Grange/Sportsnet.ca

Paul George was miles ahead of SGA when he got traded. Let’s be real here

Thechicagorilla wrote:Paul George was miles ahead of SGA when he got traded. Let’s be real here

You are missing the point.

It's about wanting a young player to have high confidence in himself and putting in the work to back it up. Not like he said it to the media or on social, he said it privately to the people around him, which is the right way to express it.

kalel123 wrote:

Thechicagorilla wrote:Paul George was miles ahead of SGA when he got traded. Let’s be real here

You are missing the point.

It's about wanting a young player to have high confidence in himself and putting in the work to back it up. Not like he said it to the media or on social, he said it privately to the people around him, which is the right way to express it.

Nothing wrong with having confidence. But to say Paul George wasn’t better than him, to a teammate or public, was completely false. I’m sure he knew he had the potential to be at or above Paul George at some point in his career

It isn't even about being as Good. Paul George has never been as good as SGA is currently. Not close.

kalel123 wrote:

Thechicagorilla wrote:Paul George was miles ahead of SGA when he got traded. Let’s be real here

You are missing the point.

It's about wanting a young player to have high confidence in himself and putting in the work to back it up. Not like he said it to the media or on social, he said it privately to the people around him, which is the right way to express it.

You should listen to some podcasts of these players. They all consider themself superstars, supreme confidense, the only thing stopping them are GM's and coaches.
Just as a example:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8Kx7J0buWc0

Michael Lucky wrote:It isn't even about being as Good. Paul George has never been as good as SGA is currently. Not close.

Paul george took the clippers without Kawhi to the WCFs.. Paul George also on the pacers was really damn good.. Paul George was a better defender than SGA ever will be.. SGA can at least make the wcf which I expect he will but come on.. Paul George has still done more I mean getting the team to the wcfs without the best player on the team is not an accomplishment we have seen Shai do.. Anyway let's see how this goes if Shai makes the NBA finals at least ok..