OKLAHOMA CITY — In light of Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul announcing his retirement at the end of the season, Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault took time to share how the future Hall of Fame guard is an excellent example for Chet Holmgren. After the Thunder improved to 17-1 in Sunday's win against the Portland Trail Blazers, Daigneault discussed what Paul means to the franchise.
The Thunder head coach also explained how Paul's approach is reminiscent of Holmgren's before every game, Daigneault said, after beating the Trail Blazers 122-95.
“One of the great point guards in the history of the game and one of the great players of this generation,” Daigneault said. “And he's been here twice. He was here when the team relocated here prior to the Thunder coming here. Then, had a great resurgence season the year that he was here. He just brought a professionalism, a readiness, a seriousness about his craft that was potent every single day.
“He's a great example of what I mentioned with Chet [Holmgren]. On a night in some random NBA city in the middle of December on a Wednesday, he's going to be ready to play. There's just a high, high level of professionalism that he brings, and that's what the great players do,” Daigneault concluded.
Chris Paul joined the Thunder in 2019-20 when Mark Daigneault was still an assistant coach. Oklahoma City entered the playoffs as the fifth seed, led by Chris, a young Thunder team featuring promising guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in his first season in OKC. Daigneault was named head coach the following season.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's eye-opening efficiency for Thunder
Eighteen games into the regular season, Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reached one of the more impressive scoring feats you'll ever see in the NBA. Despite a slew of injuries to Thunder players, such as All-Star Jalen Williams and Kenrich Williams, both of whom have missed the entire regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander has led his team to an NBA-best 17-1 record as defending champions.
He's averaging 32.2 points on 54.3% shooting, including 41.2% from deep, 6.6 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game. What's most impressive about Gilgeous-Alexander's production is the fact that he's missed nine of 18 Thunder fourth quarters this season, meaning he still averages 30+ points through three quarters in half of his games.
Gilgeous-Alexander has also scored one point for every minute he's played, thus far—an absurd point per minute ratio, noted by Thunder TV sideline reporter Nick Gallo.
“Shai now with 580 points in 593 minutes this season,” Gallo reported.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 37 points on 13-of-18 shooting, including 2-for-3 from deep, and 9-for-9 from the free-throw line in Sunday's 27-point win over the Trail Blazers.
