The Deep 3 Podcast - We Need To Talk About The Best Player In The NBA | TD3 Clips

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

Is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the NBA's best player?    Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/   Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW   Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794   Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree   Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/   Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg   Mo's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_   Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Is she the best player in the world now? After that game and seeing what he did to... He's tough, man. He's tough, man. It's hard to be in the eye. With the state, Nicole Yokic is this year dealing with the injury and his defense being bad, he's undoubtedly the best player right now. If we're talking about what the conversation really means, like, does he have the crown over Yokic?

I don't know. But I think it will be very easy to say yes if he once again wins the finals, once again wins his MVP, once again wins his MVP, once again wins his final as MVP back to back, potentially beating Yokish back to back. It'll be easier to give him the crown and ignore the points you. runs assists and what makes Yokic the best offensive player of all time potentially. Yeah. It'll be easy to put him on the same level to where we say you wear the crown now because

you've been so successful. I don't, I don't think he has the, he has the crown, but they're in a, they're in as close of a fight for the crown as it has been. And he's closed the gap as fast as I thought that anybody will close the gap on Yokin's and doing it. So there, there is a, if you say that he is the best, even right now in this. moment, I'm not going to look at you crazy. He's the best right now this moment undoubtedly to me.

Like that conversation to me is not a conversation. Like, because of Nicole Yokic coming back to injury, being a little rusty and especially defensively today and really kind of him to begin to watch you, Yolkish was great last year too. But this calendar season, he is undoubtedly the best playing in the world for this year. Like he's fair. MVP should be damn or unanimous if he plays enough games. Is it the PRA that stopping people?

Yes. It's 100% the PRA and the H.A. Is that too? But I think to get the to get the. the crown, it would have to be, at least for me, like, if we're going into a playoff series right now and you just have like an average NBA team, would I want Yokic or would I want Shea? And I, like, they're as close as they have been in a while. I think I might still want Yokic. You know what we need to happen. We need to have Shay translate his efficiency

to the playoffs one time. He's had two straight, really like four straight seasons, but let's count this year and last year as like all time, great, some of the best scoring seasons, of all time, peaks that are only rivaled by Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, those type of names. Some of those names aren't really rivaled in terms of regular season context. It's kind of Jordan and Shay in many ways. Playoff numbers have been quite the same. They got to the finals last year.

He had stinkers in the first round. He was still efficient overall. He still average as 30 at like 60% true shooting. He has 67% true shooting right now in the regular season. Only Yokes does that. To do that as a guard, like in fact, we're underrating how greatest season is right now because we got so used to it last year. if he translates even 80% of that

and has a playoff run of 30 points per game beating teams handily getting to like 62, 63% true shooting that'll stack up amazingly with every other legend that makes with Tupper runs and at that point I think the emotion of it because you'll kind of see him killing it in the playoffs

it'll become undeniable. Yeah, that's probably what we need because Loki he probably could have snatched it last year I think going seven with Denver with them being as hurt as they It's like, you really should have, should have handled that.

And he has some stinkers. Yeah, you should have handled that much quicker. And the fact that that went to seven, it's like, okay, Yokin's on the other side, kept him afloat. He still has, he still has the crown. If they come back and they play again this year and they beat him, then he will have the crowd. Yeah, because if he carried his consistency from the regular season into the playoffs,

one, if he did for this year, he would just straight up be Michael Jordan. It's probably not possible to get the playoff run of 66% true shooting on 32 points per game. That would legitimately be 1991. So that won't happen that just probably not when you're facing the best defenses in the world every night But but what if he is that well then he's Michael Jordan Yeah like I that's crazy there is a there is a world where like shade just keeps doing stuff and keeps delivering and The one of the things about the the game against the Nuggets that was so it was just so nice and so so so so refreshing It's like the dudes at the top of the league especially when we're talking about like LeBron

Steph and KD, like they take shots at the end of the game and you expect them to go in. And every time that there's a close game, you know in the last two minutes, they may not hit every single shot. They're going to hit one shot. And Shay to do that every single time down the floor is the last two minutes. I know, Shay's going to get to his middy. He's going to knock one down. And now that his three point shot is better this year than it was last year.

You can tell, especially in crunch time, he looks much more. comfortable using it as a as a tool to end games and obviously he had step back you know three to win games last year too but going to step back jumper back to back times to end the game is like okay he's he's on a different level right now and he's like the even they showed the graphic of the clutch stats and everybody was even like the top guys we're thinking Tyrese kade and all of them are are you know round 5.4 5.7 shades a full point ahead of them at 6.4 and 6.4 and in the clutch. And then he goes out and hits back-to-back threes. It's like, yo, man, like nobody's nobody else is doing it like him. Yeah. And we again, we just need to see the same, because

you know, in regular season, we know he's so amazing because he's insanely consistent. The scoring volume is there. The playmaking off that. The lack of turnovers that he creates, the like, just math advantages he brings to an offense are so amazing the regular season. And in the playoffs so far, he's been great, but not one of the greatest of all time. Like, he has been in the playoffs when he's winning these MVPs. I mean, in the regular season, when he's winning his MVP's the second we have one playoff run where that translates at least somewhat the conversational flip you ask the question do you think he's better this is the most that i've ever like questioned in my in my entire life and i think for this year especially like how bad things

have been for yoke's on the defensive end he got it note it is in the regular season he plays like 2019 kawai in the kind of like force that that brought as an individual score and the way he utilized driving offense around that hasn't fought that way because of consistency in the playoffs as soon as he is the same person he'll get the same in glaze at 2019 cool i got yeah just seemed like the constant growth of progression while also like not letting certain things um fall off in his game like the defense versus he had so many like impactful plays and so straight up like effort plays and i make sure i'm in your jersey plays towards the end of that denver game that just like solidified him in his like stature how i think about him as like the best

player in the world and he has it on that end he hits all the clutch of shots in the goddamn world like i don't i don't know what he doesn't have to not call him that right now It's still, it's still not lost on me how crazy it is that we're here with Shake Elizabeth Alexander being in these convos and year by year. The outrageous things that fans of him will claim get less and less outrageous that beginning of last year when people were saying, yo, you're watching modern day Kobe. You're watching the next iteration of these all-time great guards that are going to be truly one of the best ways you've ever seen.

It was like, all right, let him do something first. He wanted an MVP, all right, let him win a chip first. He want a chip, all right, let him do it again first. And it's just like. Which is, which is fair. It's fair. It's normal. It's normal, right?

To be one of the best players of all time, this comes with the, these are growing pains that come with that. It makes sense. It's just crazy that he keeps doing it and keeps elevating and that nothing, no ceiling that you put on him has remained. He just constantly refining his game, bro. This year's shooting like 55% from the field. That doesn't even make any sense based off of like the nature of his game at all. Why is he taking step back threes? Like just a couple of years ago, we were just like wanting him to like get better and refine that part of his game.

Just I think last year maybe it was two years ago. He started out the year. taking like nine three's a game or something crazy like that. Yeah. And this year, like, he's smoothed it now completely. And now it's, like, pretty integral to his game when it comes to seeing teams like Denver who just wants to simply double team him. Now I got some before you step back.

It's just like that now. Wonder what the ceiling is. Like, because he's going to win back to back MVP's unless he gets hurt. That's like certain at this point. Sealing of like his, like what do you mean? Like, yeah. Like, where does his end? Like, what's like, oh, man, I don't know.

So I'm thinking he wins another ring. I don't see a team that's out there like terrify me as a thunder believer. Back to back rings. Back to back to back to back MVP's. It's on the table. trajectory to the top 10 all time. That's crazy. It's insane, but here we are. And we keep making the comparison between this team and the Golden State Warriors of Curry,

who was also a late bloomer and also made the MVP leap. They had a year where he got better. And then, well, they lost the championship. Probably should have won it for 73. Like, he's on that same trajectory as Curry. Yeah. Yeah. It's a different.

Different play style, of course, but same trajectory. Yeah. I think right now, I mean, two MVPs and two chips, especially in back-to-back years and being able to say like, I peaked here. Now you're her team. Not many guys do that.

Yeah. Yeah. You can be at that level. So we're saying if he does all that, he's top 20 player? Yes. That means he matches what Janus and Yokic have done. Yes, he's locked.

He's locked for me for sure. Yeah. It would just be like a longevity. Yeah. After that, that would be holding back. But even then. So he'd be on pacey based top of the player.

He has four years of averaging 30. And so we're, we're going to be at half a decade of him doing this. Four years of an elite peak like that and two years of one of the best peaks ever. And so, and so like even if we just extrapolate three more years out of this and say that in a seven year span, which is basically,

yeah, in like a prime, you have two MVP's, two chips, five seasons. And let's just, yeah, let's just be ultra conservative and say you have five seasons consecutively

where you average 30. Yeah. You're not. to scrub defensively at all and your team has made the finals three times right let's say they win this year make another one don't win whatever let's say they

just go two and one that's that's top 20 that's top 25 at minimum yeah there's to me there's no world when he's not top 25 player of all time and really to me honestly there's no world he's not a top 20 player of all time like barring catastrophic injury or complete change like assuming

we can see what we see now and assume it happens for the same length that happens for most star players I don't see how he is anything less than top 20. I think y'all are even being conservative. I think he's a lock for top 15 if that happens. If he wins again this year, I'll be with you. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, if that scenario outline happens, I'll be with you. But as of today, 20 is the worst to me. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy, man. He's not past Duane Wade quite easily. It's so crazy. Has he already passed Duane Wade? Yes, I think so. Yeah, probably.

And like, doing Wade, I think I ranked him 19 or something like that. Yeah. This is part. Last year, it's just as impressive as 2006. And now he's done it again. He's gonna have two MVP's. Okay, fairs. That takes you far.

Yeah. It's tough. If you want to say one peak where's one year peak, maybe they're quite similar, but like the body works and it's catch up pretty quick. It's hard watching your heroes

get slain in real time. Oh, no, the 20th best player, not 19th. Bam. Way, getting his head cut off my shades. It hurts. It hurts.

He's a scout. It hurts, man. He's just holding his head up like this. that's hard oh man you know what doing it has way more gold medals than shame now what Canada will never win a gold medal basketball

never be at the top of the international game what if he does you say never listen if Canada wins a gold matter you're the gold they win the World Cup pretty easily yeah we don't care about that they don't matter it doesn't know

they've been trying to make that count for like I guess at this point like 16 years and it's gotten a little bit more but the it should count we should make it count the U.S. never sends their best players

to the World Cup and so that's why it's not looked at it in that way it should though it would be good for basketball if we care about

the World Cup and had twice as many international opportunities everybody has everybody has the one international tournament that like means the most and so normally

it goes back and forth between Olympics and World Cup it's opposite for soccer yeah why don't they care about the Olympics and soccer

I'm not sure I'm not sure but the World Cup is the thing Yeah, yeah. Maybe maybe the mental of the world only has room for one. Maybe people just like, as nations individually, don't have the mental capacity to care for two international competitions. That's what Bryce Harper said about the world baseball classic. Yeah, like one will always feel junior to a massive population.

Maybe that's what it is.