Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, meet the biggest stage in the NBA.
Biggest stage in the NBA, meet Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
This will be the first time you two get together, but it almost certainly won’t be the last.
The NBA Finals will tip off Thursday night when the Oklahoma City Thunder host the Indiana Pacers. The matchup pits a pair of teams from small markets with big dreams, and each side boasts star power in Gilgeous-Alexander from the Thunder and Tyrese Haliburton from the Pacers.
Both sides have plenty of depth, too. It would not be surprising if someone else from either team stepped forward to be the leading scorer on any given night.
But the best player on the court will be Gilgeous-Alexander.
The 26-year-old might be one of the league’s least heralded superstars. That could change if he brings Oklahoma City its first NBA championship.
Think of it this way: Yes, you know about SGA. All of your basketball-loving friends know all about SGA. But if you ask somebody who isn’t that big of a sports fan, could they tell you what SGA stands for? Could they tell you what team he plays for? Could they tell you where he went to college?
The NBA Finals could make Gilgeous-Alexander a household name everywhere.
This season, he captured his first NBA MVP award while averaging 32.7 points, five rebounds and 6.4 assists. He shot 51.9 percent from the field and also averaged 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks per game.
In a league filled with amazing players, he earned 71 of the 100 first-place votes for MVP. Nikola Jokic received the other 29, while Giannis Antetokounmpo finished third in the voting.
Thanks to his leadership, the Thunder won 68 games — the best mark of any team during the regular season.
Now comes the big stage.
Gilgeous-Alexander has a very real chance to capture the regular-season MVP and the NBA Finals MVP award in the same year. Nobody has done that in more than a decade, and it would launch him to another level of star power.
The last player to pull off the feat was LeBron James, who took home regular-season and Finals MVP honors in back-to-back seasons in 2011–12 and 2012–13.
Only 10 players have won both awards in the same season. Check out the names:
Willis Reed (1969–70)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1970–71)
Moses Malone (1982–83)
Larry Bird (1983–84, 1985–86)
Magic Johnson (1986–87)
Michael Jordan (1990–91, 1991–92, 1995–96, 1997–98)
Hakeem Olajuwon (1993–94)
Shaquille O’Neal (1999–00)
Tim Duncan (2002–03)
LeBron James (2011–12, 2012–13)
Talk about household names.
Just say “LeBron,” and anybody in your classroom, office or neighborhood block party will know exactly whom you’re talking about. Same goes for “Shaq,” “Hakeem,” “MJ,” “Magic” or “Bird” — the list goes on.
Maybe 10 or 20 years from now, the same will be true when someone says “SGA.”
Gilgeous-Alexander has a lot working against him when it comes to mega-stardom.
For one, he doesn’t play on a coast for an iconic franchise like the Lakers, Knicks or Celtics. Let’s face it — those are the types of teams that grab a disproportionate amount of national headlines, and we’d be having a much different conversation about Gilgeous-Alexander if he played near Hollywood, South Beach or Times Square.
Personality plays a factor, too. Gilgeous-Alexander might give you a great, in-depth answer about reading a defense, but he’s not flashy. He has interests outside of basketball, but he’s not going to make postgame interviews all about himself or his brand.
So he’s a relatively quiet player in a relatively quiet market.
He’s also incredibly gifted.
And he’s just four wins away from his first (of multiple?) championships.
He’s just four wins away from almost everybody knowing his name.
