Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a smooth criminal.
The Thunder's superstar guard won his first NBA MVP award last season before he led Oklahoma City to the NBA title where he claimed Finals MVP honors, too. He's reached the league's mountaintop at 27 years old. Although the rest of the league has their sights set on knocking down the Thunder, Gilgeoius-Alexander has found a way to limit opponents from getting under his skin.
“Guys don’t really talk s— to me,” he said in a GQ feature released Monday. “I don’t do nothing that warrants talking s—. I go out there, I have 30, we win, I go home. I’m not out there doing crazy stuff.”
He's confident, but he's right. He averaged a league-high 32.7 points per game as the Thunder won 68 games in the regular season and earned the Western Conference's top seed before their run to the title. He averaged 8.8 free-throw attempts per game in the regular season and 9.4 over the playoffs, getting to the foul line more than any player besides Giannis Antetokounmpo. And Gilgeous-Alexander connected on 89.8% of his foul shots last season, compared to just 61.7% for Antetokounmpo.
He's averaged 30 or more points in each of the past three seasons, cementing himself as the NBA's best bucket getter. The Thunder open their title defense Oct. 21 against Kevin Durant and the Rockets. In a league pillared by top-tier trash talk, we'll see if anyone finds a way to get under Gilgeous-Alexander's skin now that there is a bigger target on Oklahoma City's back. It's a tall task, especially because the 6'6" guard says the best is yet to come.
“I still feel there’s another level I can get to,” Gilgeous-Alexander told GQ. “Every season you get better in the offseason, the NBA adjusts to that version of you, and then you learn something new. And that cycle just goes and goes and goes. As you go in your career, it becomes more mental. At this point, I know how to shoot from every spot on the floor and get the shot I want when I want it. It’s more about timing and having peak-level endurance, knowing when to use it, when to capitalize on a moment.”
