The Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers are the remaining undefeated teams in the NBA. The Thunder got off to an impressive start. They have won all four of their matches by 12 or more points. Although they have had a great start, they have not yet played great on either side. Their defense is the best in the league so far, forcing turnover after turnover. However, it is their offense that has struggled mightily over these first few games, sitting just 23rd in the league. A big reason for their offensive struggles is that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is off to a slow start to the 2024-2025 season.

Shai hasn’t looked like himself in the first four games. In Shai’s previous two seasons, he averaged 30.7 points per game while shooting 52.3% from the field and 35% from three. This year, however, he was nowhere near those numbers, averaging 26.0 points per game while shooting 42.7% from the field and 27.3% from three. Although he’s had a slow start, there’s an easy way to get back on track. Let’s take a look at why he’s struggling and how Shai can turn around his slow start.

How Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can engineer a slow start

Shai doesn’t drive to The Hoop enough

One of the biggest things that made Shai so dominant was his relentless drive to the edge. In the previous two seasons, he led the league in drives to the hoop. In those two seasons, he averaged 23.6 drives per game. However, he did not drive that much during the first four races. He is only averaging 19 drives per game, which is four fewer drives per game. One of the biggest strengths of this Thunder offense a year ago was the drive-and-kick game. That all started when Shai continually drove to the hoop and the defense collapsed until there were open shooters on the outside. Shai needs to get back to that relentless attack on the rim he performed the past two seasons.

Additionally, because he doesn’t attack the rim as much, his free-throw attempts have failed. Shai is only averaging 5.3 free throw attempts, down from the 9.7 he averaged the previous two seasons. That’s 4.5 fewer attempts per game, and Shai could get at least four more points per game if he can reach that number again. Last year, when the Thunder’s offense was struggling throughout the game, the Thunder would let Shai drive and try to draw a foul to get their offense going in cold streaks. They didn’t do that enough this year.

Need to get back to the mid-tier game

Besides driving to the hoop, another dimension of his game was the mid-range shot. He has been one of the best mid-range shooters over the past two seasons. Last season he made 4.48 medium-range shots per game, which equates to an efficient 49.4 percent. This year, however, he’s gotten away with quite a bit of taking those shots. He takes just 1.75 mid-range shots per game and shoots 42.9 percent on those shots. Shai, returning to his mid-range game and relentless attack at the rim, should be able to turn this slow start around.

He takes too many threes

Finally, one of the biggest reasons for his slow start is his three-point shooting. In the previous two seasons, he didn’t take many threes, only attempting 3.1 per game. Moreover, he shot 35.9 percent on those threes. This season he has worked more on his three-point shooting and added a new pull-up three-shot to his game. With Mark Daigneault encouraging his players to take more threes, Shai has done the same. He is now averaging 8.3 attempts per game but is shooting just 27.3%. This was a steep jump for a player who has been a streaky shooter his entire career thus far.

Of those 8.3 attempts per game, he takes some through the flow of the attack. However, there are also some where he forces too much. It seems like he’s trying too hard to hit more threes and is losing the playing style that made him an MVP candidate. Shai taking more threes and adding more three-point play is a good thing and will make him even harder to guard. However, he shouldn’t take as many as he does. If he can lower that number to around six per game and get back to using more of his playing style that has made him an MVP candidate, he will be better off and get back on track for the season.

Final word on Shai’s slow start

Even though Shai got off to a slow start at the start of the year, it’s an easy fix for him to get back on track. In these four games, it seems like he is losing the style of play that made him so dominant and forcing way too many threes. If he can get back to his mid-range and relentless pressure at the rim, only taking about six threes per game. Shai should easily return to being one of the best efficient scorers in the NBA and get back to the 30 points per game he has averaged over the last two seasons.