On a February 4th matchup on a Sunday night in Oklahoma City, the Toronto Raptors threw something new at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Oklahoma City Thunder star approaches the game differently than most, and because of that, he typically torches any defense that is put in front of him–but this one was getting to him.
Two Toronto defenders would meet him as soon as he crossed half-court, swiping and prodding at the ball before he even got to the hash. This new strategy perplexed Gilgeous-Alexander. Of course, he had seen doubles before. After all, he is one of the NBA’s most prolific scorers, well on his way to a second consecutive season averaging more than 30 points per game. Something about this particular team on this particular day playing this particular defense rattled Gilgeous-Alexander, and because of that, it rattled the Thunder.
Gilgeous-Alexander admitted as much after the game, citing a general discomfort in the first half that eventually led to Toronto busting open a 23-point lead. The looks were there, but the results weren’t. Gilgeous-Alexander’s patented patient-but-accelerated game, one that often requires him to slow down the pace and break down the defense, was completely disrupted. Most superstars would have grown frustrated and complained about the seemingly over-the-line physicality of the Toronto defense resulting in only a handful of fouls being called. Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t most superstars.
At halftime, he looked in the mirror. Oklahoma City got the shots it wanted, but something was just a little bit off. What happened next perfectly encapsulates what makes Gilgeous-Alexander a true one-of-one in the modern NBA.
Gilgeous-Alexander realized the thing that was off was him. His slow, methodical style was slowing down the OKC offense, and reducing the team’s chance to win.
In the second half, Gilgeous-Alexander approached the game differently than we had seen all year.
When Toronto would bring the high double, he would immediately pass out of it, typically getting the ball back after relocating. Instead of scoring, he focused on playmaking.
OKC’s new-look, fast-paced offense benefited those around Gilgeous-Alexander. Josh Giddey played his best game of the season, as did Aaron Wiggins.
The Thunder came back, taking a lead in the late fourth quarter behind a career-high 14 assists from Gilgeous-Alexander. The teams wrestled back and forth, but eventually, it was Toronto who held a 110-108 lead with five seconds left in the game.
In almost every situation, across all eras and levels of basketball, the ball is going to the best player. Gilgeous-Alexander is a top-two MVP candidate, the most consistent offensive weapon in the NBA, why would the team not run the play for him, regardless of how the game had gone up to that point?
Gilgeous-Alexander was crucial in the sequence that would lead to OKC forcing overtime and eventually getting the win, but he wasn’t the one who scored the basket, he never even touched the ball.
With Giddey doing what he does best, OKC lined up for a sideline out-of-bounds play with the game on the line. The ref blew the whistle, and Gilgeous-Alexander, packed in the middle of a hoard of giant bodies, flashed up toward the three-point line. But he didn’t get the ball, he set the screen for Wiggins, who cut to the rim and got a wide-open layup to tie the game.
A superstar guard setting a screen? That is nearly unheard of in the modern NBA. Gilgeous-Alexander’s peers, guys like Luka Doncic, Tyrese Haliburton, Ja Morant, and Trae Young, are all, rightfully, demanding the ball in that spot. But as we go on, one thing will become clear, Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t like most guys.
He is a hyper-modern throwback. An enigma who takes his pregame outfits as seriously as anyone in the league, only to quietly slip out of the locker room and go straight home or to the gym.
On the court, he has mastered the ability to win with the ball in his hands, has quickly developed one of the game’s most deadly step-back threes, and gets to the free-throw line with as much regularity and efficiency as anyone in the league. Based on that description, he sounds like James Harden, the poster child of modern basketball, the guy who, in his prime, felt like he was ripped out of a Sloan Conference catalog and put on a basketball court. At the same time, Gilgeous-Alexander is the guy who will set a screen for Wiggins in the clutch if it’s what is best for the team, he plays the best defense of any of his aforementioned peers, and you never hear about anything he is doing off the court unless its fashion week.
Gilgeous-Alexander moves in silence in an era where social media allows fans to know every move their favorite star makes. Outside of some witty Instagram captions and the occasional joke with a teammate, he is rarely seen or heard from on social media, and he likes it that way. He is a low-key guy in a high-key league.
The story of Gilgeous-Alexander can’t be told without discussing the ghosts of Thunder’s past. Without the dismay stemming from the departure of Kevin Durant, and the confusing, short-lived Paul George era, Gilgeous-Alexander would be nowhere near Oklahoma City.
For the first time since Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City has learned to love. Just like Oklahoma City itself, Gilgeous-Alexander was overlooked. He was traded on draft night. He was discussed as a secondary asset alongside draft picks when the Clippers traded him for George.
Because of that, for the first time in a long time, OKC feels like it has a star that is truly theirs. Someone it can rally behind and relate to, someone who embodies the very essence of what Oklahoma City claims to be.
But the journey to becoming beloved wasn’t a short one for Gilgeous-Alexander. OKC fans trust has to be earned, it isn’t given, and despite Gilgeous-Alexander doing everything right as soon as he got to Oklahoma City, he was no exception.
Durant’s decision to go to Golden State, Harden being dealt to Houston, George asking for a trade only one year removed from signing a long-term extension, and eventually, Westbrook joining Harden in H-Town caused Thunder fans to operate with a guarded heart. A fan base was permanently scarred from losing every player it had ever truly loved, supported, and rallied behind.
A plethora of all-stars have passed through the Oklahoma City Thunder organization in its 16 years of existence. All of them have earned the respect of the fans, the simple acknowledgment that they play for their favorite team and happen to be some of the very best in a league of the very best basketball players on the planet.
Take George for example. George came to Oklahoma City with a deep understanding of the inner workings of a small market franchise. After spending the first six years of his career as an Indiana Pacer, George made it known that, while he appreciated the unbridled, unconditional support of Indianapolis, a place that has a lot in common with Oklahoma City, he was ready to move on. A California kid wanted to go back to California. Who can blame him for wanting to go home? Well, the Pacers didn’t seem to care where George wanted to go, and they shipped him to Oklahoma City to be Russell Westbrook’s co-star.
The full first year of the George-OKC experience was approached with trepidation from the Thunder faithful. It was the league’s worst-kept secret that George wanted to be a Los Angeles Laker, and while Oklahoma City has many positive qualities, it is the farthest thing from Tinsel Town. After a disappointing playoff showing against the Utah Jazz, it seemed inevitable that the risk OKC took on George would be all for not.
To the shock of everyone, George resigned with the Thunder on a four-year contract.
Not only was it a massive move for the team, it was affirmation for Thunder fans. It showed what they had all been saying for years, and it did so in a way that grabbed the attention of a national audience. If you just give Oklahoma City a chance, it’s better than it sounds, it’s more than a quiet, oversized suburb surrounded by cows and oil donkeys.
Because of his decision to commit to Oklahomans long-term, Oklahomans committed to him. His shoes, jerseys, posters, and any merchandise fans could get their hands on, were flying off the shelves. George responded by having the best season of his career. He finished third in MVP voting, made first-team all-defense, and it seemed like he was giving OKC its first chance to make a deep playoff run since 2016.
Everything in Oklahoma City was peachy. The team had a true superstar duo and controlled all of its assets going forward. The playoffs came around and the Thunder had a matchup against what most thought was an outmatched Portland Trailblazers team.
Faster than hope built up, it came crashing down. George was dealing with a torn rotator cuff, Westbrook got into a star-off with Damian Lillard that he lost easily, and worst of all Oklahoma City was disrespectfully dispatched in a non-competitive five-game series that was capped off by Lillard’s shot heard around the world over the outstretched arm of George.
OKC fans chalked it up to George being injured, and when he tweeted “Two healthy shoulders” in the off-season, all was right in the world — for two weeks.
The news broke in the middle of the night. In one of the most shocking trades in the history of the NBA, with no rumors, reported discontent, or warning, George was shipped to the Clippers.
Thunder fans were shocked. Once again, a player they had grown fond of, someone they felt epitomized Oklahoma and what it was about, had left them in the dust, jettisoned for the golden coast.
At the moment, no one put anything into the fact that in that trade, Gilgeous-Alexander was coming back to Oklahoma City. The reaction was dread, a reluctant acceptance that no matter how competitive, how supported, and how much money the team and community were willing to sink into an organization or player, they were bound to leave eventually.
The George trade made one other thing clear, the most beloved player in Oklahoma City Thunder history, the aforementioned Westbrook, was bound to head elsewhere as well. If OKC fans were reluctant to fully back a player before, they were now virtually incapable. The one guy who truly loved Oklahomans just as much they loved him was now going to be forced out, not by a trade request, but by a harsh reality. Westbrook was a superstar at the tail end of his prime, he had, at best, two more years of being a potential catalyst on a championship-level team.
Westbrook was eventually shipped to one of the places no OKC fan ever wanted to see him — Houston.
It was time for a rebuild. Nothing remained of the team that Oklahoma City had grown to love, that had caused them to pack out what was then known as Chesapeake Energy Arena.
But behind closed doors, In the ashes of the departure of Oklahoma City’s one true franchise icon, rose the creation of the next one.
Everyone knew Westbrook was going to be traded, but when it happened, a dreary gloom set over not only those who rooted for the team but those who ran it. Thunder general manager Sam Presti was forced to make the toughest call in franchise history. After doing so, Presti needed to take a break. He decided to leave his office for a few minutes and take a walk around the practice facility.
“We had basically wrapped up the trade, and it was pretty late and I was walking down one of the hallways of the building and I heard a ball bouncing,” Presti said at his postseason press conference in 2022. “I walked into someone’s office that had a window, I think there was maybe three people in the building, and I looked out the window and Shai was working out. He had just got here, like I had said hi to him, it was pretty quick, and he was in there working out with one of his agents. It was kind of a blur, I was pretty emotional about the whole Russell thing. He didn’t even have Thunder gear on, that I remember, because I was like ‘Why doesn’t this guy have Thunder gear on.’ It was just ironic to me, I thought to myself, ‘If this guy ever becomes a player, I’ve gotta remember this story,’ and I’m confident enough now to tell you this story because I think this guy is going to be a player.”
Presti was right, Gilgeous-Alexander is undoubtedly a player and a franchise-altering one at that.
The first-year post Westbrook and George, Oklahoma City surprised the league. Behind a revitalized and newly acquired Chris Paul, the Thunder made a surprising run to the playoffs. OKC fans had fun with the team, it was the first time there had been no pressure on the Thunder since 2010, but they didn’t really, fully buy-in.
How could they? The team was good, but Paul was another star who was clearly on the way out, and outside of him there were no obvious stars of the future. Gilgeous-Alexander was clearly good, a prospective solid offensive option, but nothing about him screamed special.
But quietly, during his one season in OKC, Paul was observing Gilgeous-Alexander, helping him develop his game in ways that the average basketball fan can’t see. Gilgeous-Alexander’s craftiness, his constantly improving playmaking ability, and his midrange excellence all began in that one season. He took the tools that Paul gave him and made them a staple of his game.
“That year in OKC was probably one of the most important years of my career,” Paul said. “Just seeing Shai and being my teammate, and now seeing him take his game to a whole nother level. I’m so happy for him.”
The relationship between Gilgeous-Alexander and Paul is an under-the-radar turning point, the perfect meshing of master and apprentice. Things as simple as manipulation of the defense, and understanding of both fast and slow-paced offensive styles, were not major parts of Gilgeous-Alexander’s game prior to his season with Paul.
Regardless of their relationship, Paul was sent to Phoenix after the season, and the torch was handed to Gilgeous-Alexander. He immediately became the heartbeat, and the soul of the team, and his influence on his teammates is just as apparent as Paul’s influence on him.
Jalen Williams has emulated Gilgeous-Alexander’s drive-heavy style and it has resulted in him becoming a future star in his own right. When you watch OKC go through pregame warmups, Gilgeous-Alexander always goes last. He high-fives his way through the line before easing his way close to the crowd and pumping his arms back and forth while lightly bouncing up and down. It started as a Gilgeous-Alexander-only tradition, something as simple as Kevin Garnett ramming his head into the basket support, or Blake Griffin doing pull-ups on the rim before tip-off, a superstition of sorts. Now, the whole team does it with Gilgeous-Alexander, like a perfectly harmonized band hopping up and down and pumping their arms simultaneously.
And if the fans could do it with him, they would. Gilgeous-Alexander’s selflessness, his quiet but fiery desire to win, his full commitment to not only playing in Oklahoma City, but being the leader of the team, and doing whatever is asked of him have all come together to form a perfect storm. Against their better judgement, influenced by the pain of the past, they have gone all in again, embraced another superstar as one of their own. I’m willing to bet Converse sales in OKC are at an all-time high, because if Oklahoma City does anything, it is support its own, and that is exactly what Gilgeous-Alexander is.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s and Oklahoma City’s journeys are aligned. One of the NBA’s smallest markets needed someone to force their way into their hearts, and Gilgeous-Alexander needed a franchise to realize he was indeed a “player” and not just a guy you move on draft night or throw in a trade on a whim.
Gilgeous-Alexander is unique in every possible way. He’s a first-team league fits guy every year, he dresses as flashy as anyone in the NBA, but it’s hard to point to a polarizing moment he’s produced during his five and a half seasons in the league. He is one of the most dominant players on the planet with the ball in his hands, a true offensive flamethrower by every measure, but he will set the screen on an inbounds play in the closing moments of a close game.
These things, along with many others make Gilgeous-Alexander a one-of-one, a unicorn in an era where basketball is becoming more robotic than ever before. And to the delight of a fan base that has learned to love again, he is Oklahoma City’s one-of-one. He signs every autograph before each game, he took it on the chin and stood by the Thunder without one complaint during one of the most publicly criticized rebuilds in NBA history. And on top of that in a league where the players hold the cards at all times, he signed a five-year extension with no player-option following the expiration of his rookie deal, a rare move for someone at the heart of a small market rebuild.
From working out in the middle of the night in the Thunder practice facility with his agent just days after being traded, to having his pregame tradition adopted by every member of the Thunder, to signing a five-year contract with a team in the middle of a rebuild, Gilgeous-Alexander has always been just that, rare.
The duality of Gilgeous-Alexander becomes more striking with each passing game. He is a silent assassin, a lethal enigma.
Gilgeous-Alexander has taken an interesting path to superstardom. Traded twice, slept on more times than that, Gilgeous-Alexander was never likely to be a perennial MVP candidate, but he is, and he isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
