The Oklahoma City Thunder held their 2022 NBA Media Day on Monday, September 26th at the Paycom Center. It was a blast to be there in person after covering the event virtually during my first few years as a member of the media. The setup was incredible as players went station to station talking to different media and creating video content you will see throughout the season. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the first person to meet with us in the main interview room, and he did not disappoint.
Throughout this entire offseason, the NBA media has tried their best to make Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being disgruntled a story. Despite every quote from Sam Presti, Mark Daigneault, and the man himself Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stating the opposite.
Oklahoma City Thunder star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander discusses trade rumors at OKC Thunder Media Day
After Mark Daigneault met with the media and discussed the changes to his coaching staff, max contract point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took the podium in the main room. The Media asked him about these manufactured trade rumors on social media following the Donovan Mitchell trade.
The franchise. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. pic.twitter.com/2lv7CivzVR
— Rylan Stiles (@Rylan_Stiles) September 26, 2022
The Kentucky product simply said “I don’t pay attention to the NBA media stuff and what gets Tweeted, I try to stay focused on what I got going on. Trying to be a better team the next season, a better player the next season.”
Then, Gilgeous-Alexander went on the Down to Dunk podcast with Andrew Schlecht and said “I know what I signed up for when I signed a 5-year extension…And I don’t think we’re gonna be losing for much longer.”
As I have said before, eventually we have to just throw our hands up and believe the people involved despite it not fitting in with the National narrative. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is happy in Bricktown and wants to see this rebuild through.
The 24-year-old point guard is primed for his first All-Star appearance of his career after rehabbing from his Grade 2 MCL sprain suffered just before Media Day.
It is time to believe Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and put this fear behind us until proven otherwise. For now, the focus of all parties involved is to figure out a way to complete this rebuild.