Rivers saw stardom in Thunder’s SGA, says he exceeded expectations

MILWAUKEE — Doc Rivers says he saw star potential in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander while coaching him as a rookie before the Los Angeles Clippers traded him to Oklahoma City.

But the veteran coach concedes that Gilgeous-Alexander has drastically outperformed those expectations.

“I don’t think anybody in the world saw this in him,” said Rivers, who coached the Clippers from 2013-20. “We did think he was going to be really, really good. I thought he was going to be a star. I said it when we traded him. But to see this, I don’t think anyone can honestly say they knew he was going to be this special.”

Rivers was speaking before his Milwaukee Bucks lost 121-105 to Gilgeous-Alexander’s Western Conference-leading Thunder on Sunday night.

The Clippers included Gilgeous-Alexander as part of the package to bring nine-time All-Star Paul George to Los Angeles in the summer of 2019. The acquisition of George helped the Clippers also land Kawhi Leonard in free agency after he had just led the Toronto Raptors to an NBA title.

At the time of the trade, Gilgeous-Alexander was coming off a rookie season in which he had averaged 10.3 points, 3.3 assists and 2.8 rebounds while starting 73 games. The three-time All-Star took his game to another level with Oklahoma City and now is considered one of the top candidates for this season’s MVP award along with Denver’s Nikola Jokic.

Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, is averaging an NBA-leading 33 points and has scored at least 20 points in 62 consecutive games.

“I had him his rookie year, the one thing I loved about him, the game has never gone fast for him,” Rivers said. “He’s always been able to play at a pretty good pace, and now he’s just getting better at it.”

He continued strengthening his MVP case this weekend by helping the Thunder win at Detroit and Milwaukee on back-to-back nights.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 48 points in a 113-107 victory at Detroit. He showed the diversification of his offensive game Sunday by scoring 31 points despite going 0 for 5 from 3-point range, the first time since Nov. 20 that he had gone an entire game without a 3-pointer.

“He just has great blend and found stuff in the flow of the game,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “He didn’t, I think, play his best offensive game tonight, but still had a very steady hand.”