The Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander showered praise on rookie Ajay Mitchell after another impressive display against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Mitchell played a starring role in his team's 130-106 win over the Grizzlies, scoring a career-best 17 points, along with three assists and a rebound in 21 minutes.

This season, Mitchell is averaging 6.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 51% from the floor and 46% from 3-point range in 16.3 minutes a night.

In his last five games, the four-year college standout has posted 10.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 0.8 stocks per game on a 63-53-71 shooting split.

Gilgeous-Alexander himself scored 35 points to lead the Thunder to their 11th straight win, improving to 26-5, which marked Oklahoma's best start to an NBA season.

"Ajay [Mitchell] does a lot for our team," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "He pushes the pace, he plays so hard at both ends of the floor that he raises the level of our intensity.

"He is such a good decision maker on the ball. At close outs, he reads every possession.

"Me and Jalen [Williams] joke that we can tell, by the way he plays, that he went to college for four years... he helps us win.

"Obviously, with his situation coming into the season, you might not have expected this. I certainly didn't, but after being with him for the first couple of weeks of training camp and preseason, you could see where he is going with it.

"He is just a hooper, he plays hard, he trusts his work."

Goodnight, Oklahoma pic.twitter.com/F0OHCLhYW3
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 30, 2024

The Thunder star agreed that the rookie makes life easier for him, giving Oklahoma the chance to shine on the court.

"For myself, he makes the game easy. He takes the pressure off, if someone is pressuring me coming up the court, obviously [he is] a great handler," Gilgeous-Alexander said.

"He also sees the game at a very high level, so I can cut back door. I can save my energy and get freed up off the ball and he will find me. He is special.

"Regardless of his situation and the lack of hype around him and his name, he inflects winning basketball and that is hard to come by, especially for a rookie."