Chris Paul may have only been Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s teammate for one season, but the two have obviously built a strong relationship that seems to be thriving despite the fact that Paul has taken up residence in Phoenix.
On Friday night, Gilgeous-Alexander turned in a career-high 35 points in a dramatic come-from-behind victory against the Chicago Bulls. The Thunder managed a 127-125 victory despite the fact that they trailed by as many as 22 points in the contest and by 16 points with less than five minutes remaining.
SGA helped the team storm back, tying to game on a converted and-1 with just 16 seconds remaining in regulation.
The rest, as they say, is history. And Chris Paul was taking it all in.
During the contest, Paul shared a tweet about Zach LaVine — his strong performance is what gave the Bulls an opportunity to win the contest in the first place — but couldn’t help to toss some praise at the young Canadian who spent a season as Paul’s understudy.
“Shai is special…get to watch him for a long time!!,” Paul tweeted after the contest had been decided.
Shai is special…get to watch him for a long time!!
— Chris Paul (@CP3) January 16, 2021
At this point, it’s certainly hard to disagree. The Thunder will enter play on Jan. 16 with a won-loss record of 6-6, which is probably better than most people would have expected them to fare through 12 games.
Paul will soon get to see his former understudy, as the Suns will visit Oklahoma City to battle the Thunder on Jan. 27.
SGA probably has that game circled on his calendar.