For years, OKC Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been referred to as the NBA's newest "free-throw merchant," a derogatory label for someone believed to rely heavily on drawing fouls to inflate their scoring numbers.
Despite there being a myriad of reasons why such a branding is unwarranted, SGA continues to be hit regularly by this unenviable descriptor.
However, here in the early stages of the 2026-27 NBA season, it seems that the two-time MVP may subtly be getting usurped in this conversation by Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic.
Luka Doncic blowing by Thunder star's free throw projection in 2026-27
Though he's always been one synonymous with foul-baiting, Doncic's foul-line activity has been on another level to kick off this year's campaign.
Through seven games played, the point guard finds himself shooting a league-leading average of 10.1 free-throw attempts per night. With these attempts, he's already racked up a total of 63 points from the charity stripe alone, accounting for roughly 24 percent of his 268 points scored to date.
Based on Thunder beat reporter Michael Martin's findings, Doncic is currently on pace for a whopping 818 free-throw attempts this season, 349 more than Shai's current trajectory (469) and 79 more than the Thunder cornerstone's all-time high in free-throw attempts of 739 back in 2022-23.
Needless to say, while the season may still be in its infancy stages, it appears Doncic is undoubtedly on track to take over as the game's most notoriously named free-throw merchant.
SGA may finally be renounced of this ludicrous moniker once and for all.
SGA needs Thunder role players to step up
Not only are SGA's free-throw numbers down in these first few weeks to start the season, but so are his offensive numbers as a whole.
From his points-per-game averages (28.4) to his shooting splits of 45.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from deep, even with more shot attempts and usage amid the club's widespread injury woes, Gilgeous-Alexander is clearly struggling to keep this team's offensive punch afloat without the likes of Jalen Williams (ankle) and Chet Holmgren (knee) in the mix.
Because of this, the rest of the Thunder supporting cast now, more than ever, needs to find a way to contribute big time on this end of the floor to keep Shai from continuing to play inefficient hero ball.
This means Ajay Mitchell will be relied on to continue his hot start to the year, Jared McCain must find a way to snap out of his shooting rut, and youngsters like Bennett Stirtz and Aday Mara now need to become more commanding on this front than perhaps initially expected.
It's going to take an entire team effort for the Thunder to overcome their crippling injury-induced absences, not just SGA going nuclear.
Add us as a preferred source on Google