Throughout his MVP and NBA Championship-winning 2024-25 campaign, OKC Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander found himself on the receiving end of a ton of criticism from pundits and keyboard warriors for his scoring prowess.
Considering he's ranked within the top-three in total foul shots attempted in each of the past three seasons, many have gone on to anoint him as the game's newest "free throw merchant," someone believed to hunt for opportunities at the charity stripe to pad their scoring numbers.
Along the way, many arguments have been made to disprove this type of rhetoric, though the title still seems to persist.
However, following a deep dive into his stats from this past year, there's one particular finding that should officially dispel this talking point against Gilgeous-Alexander once and for all.
Thunder star still ranks seventh in total points without free throws
In 2024-25, Gilgeous-Alexander led the league in both points per game and total points scored with 32.7 and 2,484, respectively. When finding that he also outpaced the second-placed James Harden in free throws made by nearly 100 (601 to 505), many have been quick to assume that his charity stripe activity is a primary reason for his scoring production.
Astonishingly enough, this couldn't be further from the truth.
Even when taking away his points accumulated from the foul line, the Thunder cornerstone still finds himself being responsible for a whopping 1,883 points scored. When comparing this total to the rest of the players in the league with their free-throw activity in play, SGA is still a top-10 finisher in the category, slotted right between Devin Booker's 1,923 and Trae Young's 1,841.
If one wishes to go a step further when it comes to seeing just how unbelievable the guard's scoring feats were this past year, take away all fourth quarters played by Shai, and the man clocks in with 2,096 points of his own.
This number would still have him ranked second in the league in total points, behind only Anthony Edwards' 2,177.
At this point, the criticisms of Gilgeous-Alexander and his approach to scoring are completely asinine. Every single argument made, whether it's foul-batting tactics or Nick Young's astonishingly ridiculous claim of him running up the scoreboard in the final period, has ample backing from literal facts and statistics to be easily debunked.
These findings, in particular, should unequivocally put his "free throw merchant" label to rest for good.