Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made his first career All-Star start for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and in a loss to the Eastern Conference, he recorded a career-high for an All-Star game.
The Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference 211–186, failing to recover from a sluggish start.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had his second appearance in the NBA Al-Star game overall, but this was his first career start in the match. Gilgeous-Alexander lived up to all the hype surrounding the Oklahoma City Thunder star over the weekend.
The point guard with the maximum deal played just ten minutes in his All-Star game debut in Salt Lake City last season, but he scored nine points—more than he did in the first half alone as a starter—in just those ten minutes. With 31 points, four rebounds, six assists, and a steal in the end, Gilgeous-Alexander excelled. In addition to a slew of highlights, such as a self-lob that seemed to be modeled after Thunder colleague Chet Holmgren.
Shai off the backboard 😳😤@ChetHolmgren did you tell @shaiglalex to do this? 😂#NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/nrMkMqZLGL
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) February 19, 2024
Despite the West’s defeat in a highly competitive game, the OKC Thunder guard ended with the second-highest number of points in the conference. Gilgeous-Alexander lead the Western Conference in scoring among starters.
Next up, the Oklahoma City Thunder will play the Los Angeles Clippers in the Paycom Center on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT to start the regular season. Gilgeous-Alexander is a contender for MVP with just 28 games remaining in the regular season, and the Thunder are favorites to host an NBA playoff series.
