Illinois' Keaton Wagler Draw Comparison to NBA MVP From Brad Underwood

The pinnacle of individual accolades in basketball is the NBA’s prestigious Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. And although Illinois’ freshman guard Keaton Wagler is far from climbing that mountaintop, his drawing a comparison to a player that has reached that apex would be noteworthy, at the very least – even when it comes from his (potentially biased) head coach Brad Underwood.

Brad Underwood compares Keaton Wagler to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

If you hadn't guessed the comp – look, it wasn't going to be Denver big man Nikola Jokic – Underwood sees a lot of similarities between a certain herky-jerky, slick-scoring guard in Oklahoma City and Wagner.

“Keaton’s change of pace – I kind of compare him to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in terms of, he kind of kills you with slow motion sometimes and his change of pace,” Underwood told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. "He’s a very good shooter. He’s very [heady] in terms of his decision making in the paint."

Sometimes, and arguably often, Underwood gets a touch over his skis when praising his own players – which isn’t at all a bad thing. And we can all agree that Wagler, as an 18-year old first-year college player, is miles from SGA territory. But we can also understand what Underwood was driving at.

The players' frames are quite similar, as Wagler stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 185 pounds (and will surely add some bulk in the coming months and years) while the NBA superstar Gilgeous-Alexander is 6-foot-6, 195 pounds.

Does Keaton Wagler really have bits of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in his game?

As for the game, sure, Wagler’s change of pace, slitheriness, creativity and footwork aren’t yet on the level of Gilgeous-Alexander's, but the flashes are there.

Both players love to break down their defender before pulling out a spin fade. (Take a look at the video in the tweet just below.) We’ve also seen Wagler show off the deceleration step in traffic – which has surely been at least somewhat influenced by SGA’s use of that move. 

To clarify, Wagler isn’t currently in the same ballpark as Gilgeous-Alexander. But then again, who is? Gilgeous-Alexander is the reigning MVP for a reason, and he does things that the NBA simply hasn’t seen before him. His combination of footwork, ball fakes, patience and instinctive scoring ability is unmatched.

For Wagler to even be mentioned in the same breath, though, is a high honor. And, in time, as he continues to learn and adapt to the college game, who knows what Wagler’s game may look like by the end of the 2025-26 season and how deep his bag may become?