Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's breakout season lauded by NBA analyst: "SGA, simply put, should probably start the All-Star Game"

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been on a mission this season.

The 24-year-old from Kentucky has been putting on a show nearly every night he plays, and at 31.1 ppg, is the third leading scorer in the league. Alexander has never been an NBA All-Star, and with each passing night, his chances of becoming one this season have gone up.

SGA has already matched his career-high in points, logging 42 against the Washington Wizards two weeks ago. His 11-assist outing against the Nuggets last week was just three assists short of his career-high of 14.

On The Hoop Collective, ESPN's Kirk Goldsberry believes that Shai-Gilgeous Alexander's All-Star selection might be a foregone conclusion:

"Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, let's just call it what it is. He's one of the best scorers in the league right now. He's never made the All-Star Game, and we can go through some numbers, but this dude is an All-Star at least. He should probably be starting the game.

In fact, Goldsberry went as far as to suggest that SGA should not just be selected an All-Star, he should start as one:

"I'll give you just like a basic stat that we dug up on the research that it's like out of sixty two players that have averaged, at least, 30 points a game prior to the all-star game in the NBA history, 60 made the All-Star Game 54 of those started it."

"The only two that didn't make it were Wilt 1970 and Dantley in 83, and both those guys had injury issues in those seasons. So SGA, simply put, should probably start the All-Star Game."

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's absurd jump this season

Oklahoma City Thunder v Washington Wizards

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has taken an absurd leap when it comes to scoring this season. Through the first 19 games of the 2022-23 NBA season, SGA averages 31.1 points per game, the third-highest in the league, and is shooting 51.5% from the field.

The only two players ahead of him are potential 2023 MVP Luka Doncic and two-time league MVP Stephen Curry.

His assist numbers have gone up, too, as he logs 6.2 assists per night this season. Compared to the 2021-22 season, where he averaged 24.5 points per game (a then career-high), his scoring has taken an enormous leap.

To understand just how ridiculous the jump truly is, we can compare his numbers within a three-year period between the 2020-21 season and through 20 games of the 2022-23 season.

During the 2020-21 season, when he played just 35 games, Shai logged 10 games of 30-plus points, which would have put him on pace to log about 23 such games had he played the full season.

In 56 games during the 2021-22 season, SGA logged 20 games of 30-plus points, which would put him on pace to log about 30-odd games of 30-plus points in an 82-game season.

However, through 19 games in 2022, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has logged 14 games of 30-plus points, which puts him on pace to register 60 (!) games of 30-plus points this season. The jump is definitionally absurd, at least, according to the numbers.

He leads the league in 30-point games, with Luka Doncic at 13 and Steph Curry at 12.

While he has played his tail off, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's efforts have only been enough for the 12th seed in the Western Conference and a sub .500 record at 8-12.