NBA Season Preview 2022-23: 5 players most likely to be first-time All-Stars

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Guard, Oklahoma City Thunder

Gilgeous-Alexander’s All-Star candidacy has clearly been hampered by the Thunder’s poor record but just looking at his numbers make it a bit surprising he hasn’t been selected before. His 3-point shooting numbers took a major nose dive last year, but over the past two seasons, he’s averaged 24.2 points, 5.9 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game, on a 58.0 true shooting percentage with an astronomical 29.6 usage rate. Without much offensive help around him, he’s put up enormous numbers with remarkable efficiency.

Gilgeous-Alexander is a dynamic one-on-one player on the perimeter (81st percentile in isolation scoring efficiency) who is also learning how to punish smaller guards on the block (82nd percentile in post-up scoring efficiency). He’s also an incredibly polished pick-and-roll scorer and he’s doing all this with players like Josh Giddey, Lu Dort and Darius Bazley as the only other real offensive threats. It would have been nice to see him work with Chet Holmgren but some development from the players around him will help and he’s proven he can put up elite numbers with a shaky supporting cast.

What more do we need to see?