For years now, OKC Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has received serious criticisms from both opposing fans and league-wide personnel for his high-end activity at the charity stripe, with some going as far as to label him a "free throw merchant."
The level of negative press for this area of his game has seen a recent uptick this postseason, particularly following Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, where many believe a few phantom fouls were called in his favor.
Though this foul-batting description of SGA has been debunked in the past on several occasions, the label unjustly still lives on.
Nevertheless, it by no means seems to phase the recently anointed league MVP, as NBA Champion Richard Jefferson recently revealed Gilgeous-Alexander's own response to this subset of haters, and, per the former 17-year veteran, he has gone on record to say "I love it."
Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander issues perfect response to haters
During a recent episode of the Road Trippin' Podcast, Jefferson shed light on a particular interview he did with Gilgeous-Alexander, where, in the middle of their sit-down, he brought up the "conversation" about his league-leading free-throw activity and the connotation that he seeks out whistles as a part of his game.
While talking about this particular topic, Jefferson recounted the Thunder star's "cerebral" response to the narrative, saying:
"He goes, 'You know what's crazy about it? Two years ago, I averaged almost 11 free throws a game, but we finished tenth and no one cared. Now I'm averaging nine free throws, I'm averaging less free throws then I did then... It just means that they care.' He's like, 'When I wasn't sending their best/ favorite player home, when I wasn't sending their team home, then no one cared that I was shooting 11 free throws a night, and scoring this amount of points. Now that I'm doing it, now I'm averaging nine free throws, the whole world is exploding about it... I love it.'"
Now, as mentioned earlier, despite this specific idea that the Thunder star's game is heavily predicated on his activity at the charity stripe, there's plenty of evidence that suggests not only is this not necessarily true, but also, he may not even be getting enough calls.
Since 2005, compared to all players to have averaged 30 or more points in a season, Gilgeous-Alexander ranks 23 overall in free throw attempts. On top of this, he ranks just 10 in this department among MVPs throughout this same span.
Of his top-ranked 2,484 points scored on the season, 24.2 percent of them came from the foul line, which trumps in comparison to several other players strewn across the league, such as James Harden's 28.0 percent and Trae Young's 26.6 percent.
What makes the idea that Gilgeous-Alexander heavily depends on foul shots to pad his numbers all the more egregious is the mind-blowing fact that if you were to take away all of his made attempts from the charity stripe, he would still rank sixth in the league in scoring at 1,883 total points.
Yet, for some reason, people still believe he hunts for favorable whistles to boost his scoring output?