In the conversation for the NBA’s best guard, Luka Doncic’s offensive mastery is a powerful argument, but for Chris Paul, it’s merely the starting point for a debate that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins. The Los Angeles Lakers star has been dominant this season, putting up numbers that place him in contention for both the MVP award and the scoring title. Yet the veteran point guard isn’t sold, backing reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander over the Slovenian superstar.

Few guards in the league can match Doncic’s offensive arsenal, and Gilgeous-Alexander is no exception. But according to Chris Paul, the Thunder star’s defining edge lies on the other end of the floor, where his defensive commitment sets him apart from the Lakers guard. That defensive excellence, Paul suggests, is no accident: Gilgeous-Alexander has built it through disciplined gym work and meticulous attention to his body.

“Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander), just we would be on the road watching games, but he just loves to be in the gym,” Paul explained after picking SGA over Luka Doncic in a heartbeat during his recent appearance on the 7 PM in Brooklyn show. “He is going to do all the work and take care of his body.”

Luka Doncic has looked much healthier this season, thanks to the massive transformation he underwent during the summer. This came shortly after many called him out for not even doing the bare minimum defensively as the Lakers crashed out of the playoffs much earlier than expected.

However, that seemingly hasn’t helped him change the general perspective on his fitness. More so, as he continues to struggle with a few injuries even this season, Gilgeous-Alexander has built quite a reputation around the league as one of, if not the most, consistent players in the league. And, that too, not just on one end of the floor.

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“And I think that year that we played together, he also started to see that defense matters, right?” Paul further pointed out. “So you ain’t got to be a locked-down defender or whatnot, but when you’re playing defense, your teammates just want to see that the stars actually try on defense.”

On top of injury issues stemming from not being in his best shape, one thing that surely doesn’t help the 26-year-old’s case is his lack of willingness to help his teammates while defending. Many times, Luka Doncic is seen slouching on the other end of the floor while the opposition is on the counter. This is another reason why Chris Paul believes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has an edge over the Los Angeles Lakers guard.

That said, it’s not entirely Luka Doncic’s fault for slacking off while defending. After all, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander learnt to give his one hundred percent on the court from none other than the Point God himself, and he credits him massively for shaping his style of play.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander credits Chris Paul for his meteoric rise

The one thing that gives OKC Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander a clear edge over Luka Doncic is his consistency on both ends of the floor. While that seemingly stems from his love for the weight room, he didn’t learn it voluntarily. Instead, it was none other than Chris Paul himself who taught him that. You don’t have to take our word for it; SGA himself revealed this during a recent interview.

“Chris [Paul] was special for my career. Off the court, he was the first person that I was around to really take care of their body and show me the importance of the weight room,” he said during the NBA All-Star media day. “His life was really like a regimen, and it allowed him to be successful on the court. Chris was like the first point guard for me. He was the first point guard that I studied.”

“I was in high school, and I was watching how he read the pick and roll. I was watching how he controlled the game. He was the standard for a point guard. And obviously, fast forward a couple of years, he’s one of my closest friends,” Gilgeous-Alexander concluded. Although the legendary point guard only spent a single season with SGA, that was enough for him to create an everlasting impact on his career.

Chris Paul seemingly taught SGA how to be a superstar and a great leader. While Paul’s career might’ve come to a disappointing close, he surely has impacted the current generation of guards not just in the NBA but all around the world, and he truly deserves his flowers, precisely the way the Thunder superstar handed them to him during the All-Star Weekend.