The Oklahoma City Thunder sent Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to his first NBA All-Star Game over the weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah. A well-deserved honor for the 24-year-old, averaging 30 points, four rebounds, and five assists this season with insane efficiency.
For the first time, the NBA held the NBA All-Star Draft live on the court before the tip-off of the NBA All-Star game. Team Giannis selected the OKC Thunder superstar with his third pick in the first round, which was for all the reserve All-Stars.
The Oklahoma City Thunder sent Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to the NBA All-Star game this weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah, and he reacted to that experience post-game.
While the OKC Thunder fanbase has seen Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dominate plenty of games this season, including multiple 40+ point efforts, Boston Celtics bench boss Joe Mazzula was having none of it, playing SGA just ten total minutes in this game.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did not play in the entire first quarter, and his first-ever shot attempt as an All-Star was a blocked dunk by LeBron James. Eventually, Gilgeous-Alexander shook loose for a side-step three, slammed two jams, and racked up nine points on his way to dishing out seven assists, good enough for second on the team.
After the game, those of us who made the trip to Salt Lake City waited around the podium for Gilgeous-Alexander to begin his media scrum. Instead, he walked out in an epic fur coat, the same one he showed up to the game with, and began another excellent interview session.
He, of course, was asked about his reaction to LeBron James swatting that dunk attempt, and his response was the same one the entire Thunder fanbase had on Twitter, “He wasn’t playing no defense, then the one time I tried to get a dunk, he wanna play defense. So I got something for him next time.” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
SGA on the LeBron block: pic.twitter.com/AKY31zmGib
— Nick Crain (@CrainNBA) February 20, 2023
The Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers square off on March 1st in the Paycom Center, with their last meeting being historic. The latest tilt featured LeBron James becoming the Association’s all-time leading scorer, but the Thunder pulled out a big win for the standings.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander enjoyed his All-Star weekend, from his great interview sessions to supporting Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey at the rising stars events, sitting courtside at the Saturday night festivities, and getting introduced to the NBA world as an All-Star, it was still a great experience, despite the strange path to get there.