Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is widely hated by NBA fans, and why is that? The short answer is that fans love to hate great players. But that isn’t the only reason.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, known to NBA fans as SGA, is one of the most electrifying players we have seen this century. He has averaged 25 PPG on a 51% shooting and 33 MPG over his 8-year NBA career.
Shai was drafted 11th overall in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets, and then was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers the same day for Miles Bridges, a 2020 2nd-round pick, and a 2021 2nd-round pick. He averaged 11 PPG while shooting 48% and placing 6th in Rookie of the Year voting with the Clippers.
Shai was then involved in what is widely recognized as one of the worst trades in NBA history. The Clippers traded SGA, Danilo Gallinari, five 1st-round picks, one protected 1st-round pick, and two pick swaps for Paul George.
Bottom line? Shai had been traded twice but had played only one season in the NBA.
He went on to average 19 PPG in his first season with the Thunder, a season in which the team lost in the first round of the NBA Bubble Playoffs, with SGA averaging 16 PPG. Things then went downhill: OKC missed the playoffs over the next three seasons, including a rock-bottom worst record (24-58) in 2021-2022.
Couldn’t get any worse, right? Well, right! Things turned up. The Thunder made the playoffs in season five, winning all the way to the Western semis, where they lost to the Finals-bound Dallas Mavericks. SGA averaged 32 PPG in that series.
Better yet, in the next season, Shai got a Finals trophy. It was much deserved, too. He won the MVP trophy, averaging 33 PPG in 76 regular-season games with 52-38-90 shooting splits (FG%, 3P%, FT%). He kept it going in the playoffs, averaging 30 PPG while shooting 46%.
So, why the hate? Some said he is a “flopper” and/or a “foul baiter,” and that he spends way too much (unearned) time at the foul line (called a “Free-Throw Merchant”). Besides, the team he played on was just too good, an easy target for jealous fans, who were quick to say OKC got too many favorable calls.
Shai took the brunt of the distaste back then, and hate has persisted to this day.
But fan vents on social media is a sideshow. On the court, Shai has only gotten better–or, if that seems hyperbolic, he is at the very least consistently outstanding. He won another MVP this year and led his team in the playoffs, including scoring 24 points and dishing out 12 assists Monday night in Game 1 of the Western final vs. the San Antonio Spurs.
So, let me author this memo to fans: “If you’re waiting for SGA to fail, you’re going to be waiting a mighty long time.”
