Former NBA players Louve and Pierce think Alexander will be the next Kobe Bryant

According to Chaitanya Dadwar, an analyst at US sports media F/W. Former NBA players Louis Williams and Paul Pierce compared Alexander to Kobe Bryant.

Alexander led the Thunder to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012 and now they are 1-2 behind in Game 3 against the Pacers. Alexander became the center of attention as he won the regular season MVP award and won the Western Conference Finals in the Thunder’s historic playoffs. Several NBA players and analysts praised his ability to be mid-range and his ability to carry the team's offensive burden on his shoulders. Some even compared him to the great Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and claimed he saved NBA basketball. These include former NBA players Paul Pierce and Louis Williams.

"I was chatting with a friend of mine and he asked me about SGA and I said, 'It sounds like crazy. 'I said, 'When we were thinking about creating a Kobe, we were working on the next generation of Kobe, and this and that. He was like 'SGA? 'I said 'Of course. Through the first two games, he scored 72 points in the first two games of the finals," Louis Williams said on FanDuel's "Run It Back" show.

"For me, the closest thing to Kobe, I would say Alexander. I mean, when you talk about breakouts, footwork, mid-range, mentality, I mean this kid is working on... I mean, in Game 1, he shot 30 times, and that's Kobe-like," Paul Pierce said on Fox Sports' show "The Speak."

Kobe is widely praised for his popular mid-range shooting. His influence on the sport is so highly rated that almost every child or young man who yells “Bryant! Similarly, Alexander’s skill pack brings a generation back to the importance of mid-range jump shots. In an era when Curry, Trae Young and Tatum types shoot a lot from the 3-point line, Alexander is proving that mid-range scoring is equally effective, and perhaps even more effective.

According to statistics on the official NBA website, Alexander shot 56.2% from the basket at 5 feet (59 of 105) in the current playoffs for the Thunder. His mid-range shooting percentage is 51.56%, which is 5 to 20 feet from the basket (99 of 192), while the three-point line is only 3-point line shooting percentage. 30.6% (30 out of 98). Although most of his scores were scored from mid-range, he led the league. He also broke Iverson's record of scoring the most in the first two games of the NBA Finals, with 72 points (Iverson scored 71 points).

Alexander averaged 30.4 points, 6.8 assists and 5.6 rebounds (pre-G3) in 18 games so far in the 2025 playoffs, and he is widely believed that if the Thunder defeated the Pacers, he would be the Finals MVP of this series. Do you think he is this generation of Kobe Bryant? Tell me what you think.