Paige Bueckers gets Shai Gilgeous-Alexander comparison as Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston offer glowing praise 

It’s been a week since Paige Bueckers’ historic 44-point outburst, which put her inside the top 10 highest-scoring games in WNBA history and made her the first player to post 40+ points on 81.0% shooting, sinking 17 of 21 attempts. Yet, praise for the rookie hasn’t stopped, with the latest drawing comparisons to NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

On the “Post Moves” podcast, hosts Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston broke down Bueckers’ scoring showcase and the skill set that makes her such a tough cover.

Boston, who plays alongside reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark, commended Bueckers’ “smooth” style of play.

“I think when you look at Paige's game, it's just overall a smooth game,” she said. “She takes her time, she's patient -- whether she wants to post, the little turnaround jumper, she gets to her mid-range. I mean, she finds her teammates. … She's so poised, and she doesn't get sped up.”

Parker followed up on Boston’s remarks, likening Paige Bueckers’ midrange attack to Gilgeous-Alexander’s.

“In a league that is so dominated by layups and 3-pointers -- and this is what Paige talked about in one of her press conferences, that teams are willing to give up mid-ranges.

"And we've seen how dominant the mid-range game can be in the NBA now, that everybody shoots 3s. I mean, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander doesn't shoot that many 3s. And he was the league MVP this year. There's still value in that middie. And Paige Buecker's got a pretty mid-range game.”

But since that breakout night, Bueckers has cooled off, averaging just 10.0 points on 26.3% shooting. She tallied 11 against the Seattle Storm before scoring only nine versus the Valkyries, marking her first single-digit performance of the year.

READ: "When she isn’t getting sympathy defense": WNBA X mocks Paige Bueckers for averaging 10 ppg after record-shattering performance

Breaking down Paige Bueckers and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s scoring profiles

WNBA stats show Paige Bueckers thrives inside the arc, with 76.7% of her shots coming from 2-point range.

More than half of those looks are either midrange or in the paint: 34.9% in the paint and 26.4% from midrange, where she shoots a sharp 61.4%.

By comparison, Gilgeous-Alexander’s 2024-25 MVP campaign saw 73.7% of his shots as 2-pointers, per NBA stats.

Of that total, 14.0% came from midrange and 42.1% from the paint, while he converted 78.8% of his unassisted 2-point makes.

Gilgeous-Alexander put up an NBA-best 32.7 points per game on 51.9% shooting, claiming both the scoring title and MVP honors. Bueckers, widely seen as the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year, is averaging 19.0 ppg on 46.6%