It appears OKC Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is no longer the league's ultimate foul-baiter. At least, that's what Dillon Brooks seems to believe.
Though the Suns forward has been highly critical of Oklahoma City's ability to draw a whistle, particularly following their first-round bout in this past postseason, during a recent appearance on Deflected, he rattled off who he considered to be the three top foul-baiters in the association today, labeling Luka Doncic as the player who's "probably number one" in his book.
Considering the fact that SGA has regular been tabbed as the NBA's "free throw merchant," seeing Brooks rank Doncic as the league's top culprit may come as a bit of a shock.
However, despite this popular talking point, the numbers certainly back up the wing's claim.
Over the last three seasons, Doncic has placed within the top three in free throws per game twice, ranking third in 2023-24 (8.7) and first in 2025-26 (10.1). Shai, meanwhile, has fallen into such a threshold just once.
This past season, despite playing in four fewer games than the Thunder cornerstone, Luka attempted a total of 31 more free throws and drew a ridiculous 49 more personal fouls, with his 464 unsurprisingly leading all players. SGA's, meanwhile, didn't even place within the top five.
And yet, even with all of this information readily available, people are still under the impression that Gilgeous-Alexander is the ultimate foul baiter?
Dillon Brooks coming across as delusional about Thunder superstar
While Brooks did admittedly drop facts with his take on the league's biggest foul-baiter, he came across as somewhat delusional when talking about his ability to contain Gilgeous-Alexander in a head-to-head bout.
In fact, the words he specifically used were that he "had his number," and that he is hoping to see the Thunder again in the playoffs this coming season because he views them and Phoenix as a new rivalry in the league.
Now, while he may have specifically been referring to his pre-MVP days as the time in which he believes he figured out how to contain Shai, the fact of the matter is, those days are now well in the rearview.
Frankly, all the proof that's needed to completely debunk Brooks' claims is found in what the Thunder guard was able to do during the 2026 quarterfinals against the Suns, a series where he posted ridiculous averages of 33.8 points, 8.0 assists, and 3.8 rebounds while boasting a 67.8 true shooting percentage and a plus-43 plus-minus en route to a 4-0 sweep.
If it's Brooks' wish to have another showdown against Oklahoma City come playoff time, the Thunder should be more than open to seeing such a turn of events take place, especially with SGA leading the charge.
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