"Stat Just Happened" is our series where we pair an important stat with how it actually unfolded on the floor. Our aim? To answer key questions, uncover hidden truths and peel back the curtain on why some numbers matter more than others.
31.8%
According to NBA.com, that's the percentage of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's offence that's coming in isolation this season.
Why is that notable? A couple of reasons.
One, it's the second-highest mark in the league. Two, there's only one player in the last seven years, which is as far back as the NBA's play type data goes, who has generated a higher portion of their offence in 1-on-1 situations than Gilgeous-Alexander is this season.
You probably won't be surprised to hear who that player ahead of him in both categories is: James Harden.
Harden actually had a couple of seasons where nearly half of his offence came in isolation. (This is your reminder that peak Harden was unlike anything we've seen before.) There's a good chance that we'll never see anyone reach those levels ever again, but Gilgeous-Alexander is doing his best Harden impression with the frequency he's currently scoring in isolation.
NBA League Pass: Sign up to unlock live out-of-market games (7-day free trial)
| Player | Season | Frequency | PTS |
| James Harden, Rockets | 2018-19 | 48.7% | 18.1 |
| James Harden, Rockets | 2019-20 | 45.0% | 15.8 |
| James Harden, Rockets | 2017-18 | 35.0% | 12.2 |
| James Harden, Nets | 2020-21 | 33.6% | 8.7 |
| James Harden, Nets | 2021-22 | 32.4% | 7.9 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder | 2021-22 | 31.8% | 7.1 |
| Lance Stephenson, Grizzlies | 2015-16 | 31.0% | 3.7 |
He's been pretty efficient as well.
According to NBA.com, Gilgeous-Alexander is scoring at a rate of 0.96 points per isolation possession, ranking him in the 68th percentile. He doesn't get to the line as much as Harden — few do, even this season — but he still draws fouls at one of the higher rates in the league. He also rarely makes mistakes, turning the ball over at one of the lowest rates in the league.
Gilgeous-Alexander wasn't as reliant on isolation scoring last season, but he was slightly more efficient, ranking in the 72nd percentile with 0.98 points per isolation possession.
Some of what makes Harden such a dominant 1-on-1 scorer applies to Gilgeous-Alexander. For one, he's a big guard. While he's not as stocky as Harden — Harden is listed as a whole 40 pounds heavier than Gilgeous-Alexander — he stands at 6-foot-6 and has a massive 7-foot wingspan.
That length makes Gilgeous-Alexander a tough cover for smaller guards because he can shoot over a lot of them. He particularly likes to shoot from floater range — only three players have attempted more shots from the non-restricted part of the paint than Gilgeous-Alexander has this season.
Like Harden, Gilgeous-Alexander is incredibly shifty with the ball in his hands. He's not particularly fast from one end of the court to the other, but he plays at a pace that's very hard to defend, and he's a crafty finisher around the basket.
One of his go-tos on his forays into the paint is a scoop shot that is quite difficult for recovering defenders to block.
He'll keep defenders off-balance with "wrong-footed" layups — a right-handed finish off of his right foot or a left-handed finish off of his left foot.
He'll make the most of every step to sneak his way into an opening or get off his shot.
He has the body control to pull off some acrobatic moves.
He's even ambidextrous, capable of finishing with either hand.
The result? Gilgeous-Alexander has been one of the most efficient finishers around the basket for his position in all but one season he's been in the NBA.
The only thing really missing from Gilgeous-Alexander's iso game is a reliable pull-up 3. It's a shot he's comfortable taking — nearly a third of his field goal attempts this season have been off-the-dribble 3s — but he's made only 26.3 percent of those opportunities to this point of the season.
Gilgeous-Alexander was in similar territory as a rookie (31.8 percent) and sophomore (31.9 percent), but he did show promise in 2020-21 when he connected on 40.9 percent of his pull-up 3-point attempts.
Maybe that season will prove to be an outlier, but if he can get back to that sort of level again, there won't be much of an answer for him.
Of course, some of Gilgeous-Alexander being such a dependent isolation scorer is out of necessity with him being by far and away the best scorer on a Thunder team that is light on playmakers. He's once again among the league leaders in shot attempts this season, and only three players — Trae Young, Luka Doncic and Harden — have the ball in their hands longer than Gilgeous-Alexander does on a game-by-game basis.
When you handle the rock as much as he does, you're bound to find yourself on an island a decent amount.
Even so, the degree to which Gilgeous-Alexander is scoring in isolation so far this season is far from normal. The proof is in that one Harden-like number...
31.8%
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its clubs.