Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has spent plenty of time taking hits from outside the lines, and he doesn’t sound interested in changing a thing.
The Thunder star has become one of the NBA’s most picked-apart players, with the usual complaints following him around - from the tired free-throw merchant label to the jabs at what some view as a plain, Tim Duncan-like public image. None of it seems to bother him. In a recent interview with TIME, Gilgeous-Alexander made it clear that the criticism doesn’t move him.
He said he would choose this path “a million times out of a million times,” even if the worst part of it is the noise from social media. That’s the message here: people can talk, but he’s not adjusting his game or his personality to satisfy the internet.
And Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t exactly hiding his confidence, either. In that same TIME conversation, he described himself as the “best-player-in-the-NBA,” and his résumé gives him plenty of backing.
After the 2025-26 campaign, Gilgeous-Alexander became one of only five players in league history to average 30.0 or more points in four straight seasons. He also became the first guard ever to average 30-plus points per game while shooting at least 55.0 percent from the field.
The awards pile is just as heavy. He has four straight All-NBA First Team selections, two straight MVP awards and a 2025 NBA Championship, where he also took home Finals MVP.
What makes the whole thing even more striking is that he’s still only 28. If this is already the top version of Gilgeous-Alexander, that’s a problem for the rest of the league. If it isn’t, that may be even worse.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Took OKCs Playoff Exit Harder Than Fans Knew
Shai Gilgeous-Alexanders response to Oklahoma Citys playoff exit apparently lingered well beyond the spring, according to trainer Nem Ilic, who said the Thunder guard took the Knicks championship run as a reminder of what was left on the table. The backdrop was OKCs loss in the Western Conference finals, a finish that clearly sat heavy enough to shape how Gilgeous-Alexander approached the months that followed.
Ilic said the offseason became a work period aimed at sharpening conditioning and making Gilgeous-Alexander more comfortable operating off the ball, a sign the Thunder star is still searching for ways to raise his ceiling. He offered a quick preview of that next step in his preseason debut, when he scored 17 points in 17 minutes, and the early return suggests the same frustration that followed the playoff exit may have fueled the work. [Read more 🡒]