Jaylen Brown perfectly captured how fans all over the NBA feel about SGA

There’s no doubt that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the very best basketball players alive, and he’s quickly moving up the list of greatest players of all time. He was magnificent, as he usually is, on Thursday night in Oklahoma City, as the Thunder pulled out a tight win over the Celtics, 104-102.

Shai led the way, scoring 35 points to go along with 9 assists and 6 rebounds on 13-18 shooting. He extended his streak of scoring 20+ points to 127 consecutive games, passing Wilt Chamberlain for some NBA history.

But for all of SGA’s undeniable greatness, there’s an element of his game that rubs some fans the wrong way and has become a topic of heated discourse, and that’s his ability to draw free throws. Terms like “grifter”, “flopper”, “foul-baiter”, “free-throw merchant”, and “unethical hooper” have been loosely thrown around to discredit his accomplishments, and we’ve all seen some of the highlights.

Sure enough, he drew a few fouls on Thursday night that caused a groan from the peanut gallery in Boston, and really, around many NBA cities. On one play, Gilgeous-Alexander drove at Luka Garza, leaning his shoulder into the body and flailing towards the defender while hurtling toward the basket.

Jaylen Brown calls out SGA's foul-baiting

On the Amazon Prime feed, the entire world heard Jaylen Brown’s reaction to the play loud and clear as he yelled to the referees, “That’s not basketball!”

And therein lies the issue that many have with Shai and this OKC team. At times, it seems like he’s gaming the system more than actually playing the game. In the play JB reacted to and many others, it really doesn’t seem like SGA was making an effort to actually score and was only looking to create contact.

It’s more of an indictment on the rules and the way the game is officiated than it is on Gilgeous-Alexander. The goal is winning, and nobody is doing it better than the Thunder and their soon-to-be back-to-back MVP, but that doesn’t mean fans have to like it. 

It can make for a tough watch, and the league has to make an effort to fix it. But for now, he’s taking advantage of the rules and how tilted they are in favor of the offense, as well as anyone in the world.

Gilgeous-Alexander would be all-time great regardless of free throws

The biggest shame of it all is that SGA would be an incredible player, and is, even without any of the foul-drawing antics. His all-around game is amazing, and he is as gifted a scoring guard as we have seen, maybe since Michael Jordan. 

Yet it feels like he isn’t being fully appreciated or getting the respect he deserves, and much of it, fair or not, boils down to his style and some of the “highlights” that have made the rounds on social media.

So, Jaylen Brown and many others who share the sentiment are right. It’s not basketball. But unfortunately, it is the NBA right now, and until things change, Gilgeous-Alexander will continue to capitalize.