The Shai Gilgerous-Alexander free throw shooting discourse has never made much sense. A player with incredible ball handling abilities, who drives as much as anyone in the NBA, gets fouled often? Who would have thought!
Alas, rational thought is seldom a prerequisite for NBA discussions, so the Thunder superstar gets all the negative labels associated with drawing fouls. Some are based in truth — some are flat-out silly. After the Thunder beat the Warriors this weekend, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr weighed in with a take, paying compliments to SGA while
"He's incredibly clever... He knows exactly how to draw contact, and it's all within the rules. I don't have a problem with Shai, I have a problem with the rules... We hardly allow the defense to do anything guarding the ball, so if you allow the offensive player to push off with the off arm to create space, it makes it really tough defensively... It's all part of the rules so, more power to all the individual players but as a league, we need to adapt and adjust..."
Steve Kerr on SGA (15 free throws tonight): “He’s incredibly clever. He knows exactly how to draw contact. It’s all within the rules. I don’t have a problem with Shai. I have a problem with the rules.” pic.twitter.com/OFESGg8ENg
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 8, 2026
This is fair all the way around. I won't claim that Shai doesn't try to draw fouls — obviously he does. He's just so good at it that it irritates other fans. But Kerr's take is spot on... Why blame the player for maximizing something that the league obviously believes is within the rules?
It's also hard to blame Kerr for asking the league to reconsider those rules. Thunder fans shouldn't mind that, either; Shai would be just as dominant a player if the NBA cracked down on offensive players initiating contact, and I say that with full confidence. The reason he draws so many fouls is that teams are terrified of him scoring on them without getting fouled. If he draws fewer fouls, he'll just score more buckets instead.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could prompt a rule change in the NBA
It's safe to assume that rule changes are coming soon. Whether that's a positive for the league or not, who's to say, but Adam Silver has shown that when there's enough discourse around a topic, he'll eventually cave to pressure. And then maybe un-cave if there starts to be pressure from the other side. But I digress.
In the meantime, Steve Kerr definitely wins the fake award for most level-headed take on the free throw discussion in the NBA. Is it annoying for opposing fans to watch? Sure. Is it tainting the purity of the sport we love? With other forces currently actually doing that, it's harder to get mad at players for getting to the free throw line a lot.