OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stood on the Paycom Center court, a headset connecting him back to ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt for a SportsCenter hit Wednesday night after the Thunder routed the Timberwolves to reach the NBA Finals.
Behind Gilgeous-Alexander, teammate Jalen Williams crashed the scene, kookily dancing for the camera with the Oscar Robertson Trophy, which goes to the Western Conference champion.
“Take a look behind you,” SVP told SGA.
Gilgeous-Alexander peered over his right shoulder, barely in time to see Williams spin around and freeze, acting so innocent he had to be guilty.
“Go away, bro,” Gilgeous-Alexander said with no conviction at all.
SGA is the big brother of this lovable bunch of Thunder goofballs. The guy who keeps everyone straight. The Richie Cunningham to Potsie and Ralph Malph. The Roger to Rerun and Dwayne. And remember this about big brothers: They’re often a partner in crime.
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APTOPIX Thunder Timberwolves Basketball
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, center, celebrates with teammates Wednesday after Game 5 of the Western Conference finals of the NBA basketball playoffs. Kyle Phillips, Associated Press
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the newly crowned Most Valuable Player in the NBA and the newly anointed messiah of Oklahoma basketball, who Thursday night will lead the Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, is many things.
He’s the stunningly efficient maestro of the world’s best hoops team, always under control and almost always outdueling Earth’s greatest players. He’s the too-good-to-be-true leader of a button-down franchise that has returned from the wreckage of rejection. He’s the family man, married to his high school sweetheart with a delightful 1-year-old son who sat courtside wearing baby headphones for the West finale, then played with his daddy’s championship cap post-game.
But Gilgeous-Alexander is also the kid-at-heart leader of these Little Rascals.
“He also jokes around,” said Cason Wallace, the second-year Thunder defensive whiz. “A lot. Off the court, he’s more loosey-goosey than he is on the court.”
Nobody thinks loosey-goosey when SGA slithers through defensive cracks to spin in a circus shot during critical moments of a Thunder game. Or when he responds with a blank stare to all the nonsense about being a free throw merchant. Or when he responds to a perceived bad call with wide eyes and an animated face that lasts for maybe two seconds, before he returns to Wally Cleaver mode and we go back to waiting for SGA’s first-ever NBA technical foul.
But yep, loosey-goosey.
Which explains why Mark Daigneault, who is blessed to coach these happy days of a what’s-happening ball team, sums up perfectly this superstar with a regal name.
“He wants to be one of the greats,” Daigneault said. “He also wants to be one of the guys.”
No gravitational pull
Life in general and basketball stardom in particular work against anyone who wants to be one of the greats and one of the guys.
SGA is a 26-year-old family man, married since February 2024 to “the one and only” Hailey Summers — as he calls the girl he’s been with since his teenage years back in Hamilton, Ontario — and father to Ares Alexander.
Nuggets Thunder Basketball
Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, left, greets his wife Hailey Summers, center, and son Ares Alexander after the Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets on May 13. Nate Billings, Associated Press
The only other married Thunders are Kenrich Williams and Isaiah Hartenstein. It’s not that SGA is so much older than most of his teammates — Aaron Wiggins and Luguentz Dort also are 26, Isaiah Joe is 25, Jalen Williams 24, Chet Holmgren 23, Jaylin Williams 22, Wallace 21 — but that his station in life, his soaring status in world culture, puts him on a different plane.
There’s a gravitational pull from being one of the guys. To fight off that natural order would seem to need some deliberation. But no.
“I haven’t really made an emphasis on trying to make sure I stay connected with the guys,” SGA said. “Part of that is just who I am. I think the way that I was raised doesn’t allow me to let that stuff affect me. I was always taught no matter what’s going on, you’re no better or worse than anybody.
“That’s how I see my friendships, my romantic life. That’s how I see everything. I think that’s helped me, I guess you could say, stay connected to the group, stay grounded.”
Thunder Timberwolves Basketball
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the newly crowned Most Valuable Player in the NBA and the newly anointed messiah of Oklahoma basketball, on Thursday night will lead the Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Nate Billings, Associated Press
SGA was born in Toronto but moved at age 11 to Hamilton, which he considers home and where he returns every summer, still connected to the same circle of friends with whom he grew up.
SGA’s mother, Charmaine Gilgeous, ran the 400 meters in the 1992 Olympics for Antigua and Barbuda. Gilgeous-Alexander comes by his athletic ability naturally.
The basketball, SGA got from his father, Vaughn Alexander, who first put a ball in SGA’s hands and who coached his son as a youth.
“My mother, she’s crazy,” SGA said during his MVP awards ceremony. “I told her the other day, I always thought she was insane, until I had a child. I loved the person she’s turned me and my brother into.”
SGA’s brother, Thomasi Gilgeous-Alexander, is 17 months younger. TGA played college basketball at the University of Evansville and Northeastern A&M Junior College.
“My parents, they don’t, like, hype me up for basketball games,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. But one thing Charmaine Gilgeous taught Shai, “no matter what happens, she’s going to love me. And I guess that gives me the ability to go out there and not care what happens. The people that matter the most in my life are going to treat me the same way no matter what happens out there.”
It certainly seems as if SGA got the most blessed gift possible: good home-training.
“My family … they don’t ever let whatever’s going on around get to my head,” SGA said. “They’re always honest with me, open with me. They don’t ever waver, no matter what I just achieved. No matter what I didn’t achieve. They’re the same people when I walk through the door. That’s been inspiring to me, … the balance you have to have in life to take steps forward and succeed.”
That kind of perspective helps a guy who is great stay one of the guys.
A few weeks ago, Daigneault used the media’s own game to enlighten us about Gilgeous-Alexander. Daigneault noted SGA’s habit of pausing after being asked a question. He’s not necessarily the greatest quote in the world, but he almost always delivers a good answer. He’s not on auto-pilot.
“He’s incredibly thoughtful and conscientious,” Daigneault said. “He gives your question the attention and time that it deserves, and he’s going to give you an answer that’s thought out. And he’s like that out here (on the practice court) or in individual film.”
SGA said his wife and son have helped him become more considerate of everyone.
“Before you live with a spouse and have a child, everything is on your time,” SGA said. “You go wherever you want, whenever you want. You can get up, not make the bed … leave the cereal bowl on the table. You can do whatever you want.
“And the moment that someone lives with you or you have a kid, your life is not yours anymore. I think about my wife and my son, before I do myself. I think that’s just become second nature for me at this point.”
Nickeil Alexander-Walker eyes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shot
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker, whom Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said he considers like a second brother, eyes SGA’s shot during Game 4 of the Western Conference finals of the NBA basketball playoffs Monday. Matt Krohn, Associated Press
Hamilton to OKC
Vaughn Alexander’s sister, Nicole Alexander, is the mother of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Nickeil Walker-Alexander. The Thunder’s five-game triumph over the T-Wolves was emotionally taxing on SGA, who considers Walker-Alexander like a second brother.
The Gilgeous-Alexander brothers and Walker-Alexander were raised virtually together, with Vaughn Alexander serving as the de facto father to his nephew.
Alexander sought the best basketball experiences for his trio of ballplayers in hockey-mad Canada, and the boys eventually moved to the United States for their last two years of high school basketball. SGA and Alexander-Walker were roommates at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Both eventually became big-time recruits. SGA went to Kentucky, NAW to Virginia Tech.
You know the rest. After a year at John Calipari’s Kentucky NBA factory, Gilgeous-Alexander was the 11th pick in the 2018 draft, selected by the Charlotte Hornets but traded immediately to the Los Angeles Clippers. SGA was a promising rookie for the Clippers but in summer 2019 was traded to the Thunder in the Paul George deal.
SGA did not immediately make his ninth-grade basketball team. He started just 24 of 37 games his one season at Kentucky. Then the Clippers traded him after just one season.
Most NBA players cite such slights as motivation. In 2009, six years into his third retirement, Michael Jordan in his Hall of Fame speech blistered those who doubted him in his career. Don’t expect that of Gilgeous-Alexander.
SGA said he long ago let loose of ill will toward the Clippers.
“I haven’t thought about them in years,” SGA said. “I can’t hold … grudges forever in life. For whatever reason, they moved off me and they thought it was a good idea, and the Thunder vice-versa and also the cards that I was dealt, I just tried to make the best of ’em.”
Seems like mission accomplished.
Days of Thunder
When the Thunder traded for SGA, he was two days shy of his 21st birthday. Hard to believe Gilgeous-Alexander now has spent six years in Oklahoma. He wasn’t even the face of Canadian basketball back then. Now he’s the face of the franchise and perhaps about to be the face of the NBA.
When he was traded, he was billed as a potential defensive force. Quick, long-armed, willing. With some offensive potential. Then SGA averaged 19.0 points a game for that 2019-20 Thunder squad, 23.7 the next year, and soon enough he was the NBA scoring champion, drawing comparisons to Jordan for his efficiency and reliability.
APTOPIX Thunder Timberwolves Basketball
“There’s not a lot of people that aim that high, then put the horsepower of their work capacity behind that,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. “He does. He wants to be great. He wants to be one of the greats. He aims as high as you could possibly aim, and he puts his work where his mouth is.” Nate Billings, Associated Press
Gilgeous-Alexander is a dead-eye shooter from mid-range, a wizard at finishing around the basket and a dependable deep-ball marksman. And he just keeps getting better.
“My mentality was, do whatever it takes to win,” SGA said. “I do put a lot of pressure on myself. I have very high expectations of myself. Always have. I always dream big and reach for the stars and try to accomplish my goals.”
No one is born to shoot a basketball. It’s a skill. It must be refined and tried in the fire. Day after day. Game after game. Year after year. Gilgeous-Alexander got here the best kind of way. Through hard work.
“There’s not a lot of people that aim that high then put the horsepower of their work capacity behind that,” Daigneault said. “He does. He wants to be great. He wants to be one of the greats. He aims as high as you could possibly aim, and he puts his work where his mouth is.”
But there are forces in nature and in culture that seek to change the big dreamers and hard workers who coalesce into the ultimate producers. Priorities change. Perspectives change. People change.
Being great usually comes at the expense of being one of the guys.
“There’s guys that are like that, but sometimes it seems like they operate on like a completely different spectrum than the rest of their team,” Daigneault said. “And he’s not like that at all. He wants to operate like another member of the team.
“You see him walk around the building — he doesn’t walk around the building any different than anybody else. He wants to blend in to the organization, blend into the team the same way everybody else does. I just think that balance is very unique.”
Thunder Timberwolves Basketball
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, center, shoots the ball during Game 3 of the Western Conference finals May 24. Matt Krohn, Associated Press
That gravitational pull to be different? You resist it by choice. Decisions emboldened by actions. Intentionality.
Gilgeous-Alexander has dared to be different.
“I try to just like be authentic, be a good person,” SGA said. “I try to do things the right way, with the right intention, in everything I do, and hopefully the chips fall when and where I want them to.
“Just try to do everything I can, in every situation, to be the best person, best teammate, best basketball player, best friend, whatever it is, and hopefully I get rewarded for it, and it’s gone well so far.”
OK. Now about that loosey-goosey part. Speaking for every basketball fan in the Western Hemisphere, what does a loosey-goosey Shai Gilgeous-Alexander look like?
“Just joking around, fun,” SGA said. “Working out is the only time I’m serious. And in the heat of battle. But even in the heat of battle, sometimes I’m light, because there’s a lot of heat, need to even things up. I can’t be serious in everything. People would hate me.
“The guys make it easy to be a part of. They’re super fun. Easy to connect with. We have a blast, as you guys can see, making my life easy.”
The blast includes the Thunder’s post-game hijinks, when the star of the game, usually but not always SGA, is interviewed, and teammates gather around and turn sideline reporter Nick Gallo into a dress-up doll. That’s when Gilgeous-Alexander sometimes has to go all Richie Cunningham and tell the gang to settle down.
And part of that blast cost SGA some money. Last season on a bus, the Little Rascals were being silly, and always-smiling Jaylin Williams asked SGA what he was going to get the team when he won MVP.
“Crazy question to ask,” SGA said.
But watches had been in the conversation that particular day. So SGA announced he would give everyone a Rolex if he won MVP.
“Silly on my part,” SGA said.
As the MVP became more and more likely, Gilgeous-Alexander remembered what he said. And knew he had to do what he said he would do.
So when the Thunder hosted the MVP ceremony at its training facility on May 22, goody bags for his teammates included a Rolex.
“I made it happen,” SGA said. “But this is nothing compared to what they’ve been to me.”
Just the latest chapter in one of the greats being one of the guys.
berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com
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