Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shows new scoring wrinkle in OKC's preseason loss to Bucks

Catching Ajay Mitchell's swing pass, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander quickly got into his shooting motion. The two-time MVP winner cashed in on another catch-and-shoot look. On the other end, he met with Tyler Herro at the apex of his layup attempt. He completely swatted it away. What a two-play sequence.

The Oklahoma City Thunder dropped another one with a 128-126 preseason loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. But the first half made the second-half meltdown an afterthought.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 17 points on 5-of-5 shooting, five assists and three rebounds. He shot 3-of-3 from 3 and went 4-of-4 on free throws. He also had one block.

Sitting out the front end of this preseason back-to-back, Gilgeous-Alexander returned to the OKC hardwood. That said,

there's nothing to gain in this environment with him. We know what he is at this point. He's one of the best players in the league. And one of the greatest players ever. The era-defining NBA superstar just wanted to do a quick tune-up after an offseason's worth of downtime.

In this no-leverage environment, Gilgeous-Alexander put on his lab coat. He played off-ball more frequently — something that has been talked about ad nauseam this summer. The result? A handful of catch-and-shoot looks. The Thunder have had a pass-happy offense so far. You have to wonder how much of that is a conscious decision compared to just going with the flow.

Regardless, Gilgeous-Alexander's catch-and-shoot numbers are going to be a fun mini-storyline to follow this upcoming year. Let's see if the offseason talk materializes into something real. Elsewhere, he also had his fun with Mara. The 21-year-old adds a new dimension to OKC's offense. You can just throw the ball up and safely assume he's going to catch it somehow.

That'll be a fun wrinkle to add to Gilgeous-Alexander's playmaking chops. Besides that, he was mostly on cruise control. Cool to see him suit up for the first half. Especially for a preseason crowd. The Thunder realistically don't need to see much else from him. Anything forward is just extra credit.

"I think the mindset he comes in with is pretty much the whole building's mindset. Is that just being able to learn and embrace the culture of being on the Thunder, and he does such a good job of that," Jared McCain said about Gilgeous-Alexander. "Being that leader for us and someone to look to for how to act. A lot of our media training was a lot of his stuff because he knows how to treat the media. We all know how to treat everybody in the building."

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shows new scoring wrinkle in OKC's preseason loss to Bucks