Amid brilliance as one of the best players in the world, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had an off night against the Lakers.
In the wake of being the NBA’s frontrunner to win the 2024-25 MVP award while leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to another historically dominant season, the Canadian superstar still gets criticism for his prolific free-throw shooting.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league’s leading scorer with 32.6 points per game, also finds himself atop the free throw leaderboard. This year he is at the front of the league in total free throws made (592) while ranking second in attempted (658).
This has led to some fans dubbing Gilgeous-Alexander as a ‘free throw merchant’. And at one point, even Payton Pritchard hurled an intriguing shade against him about how he initiates contact just to draw a foul.
On a rare occurrence, Gilgeous-Alexander failed to step into the line and take foul shots.
In OKC’s 126-99 major defeat against the Los Angeles Lakers on April 6, the Thunder star dropped 26 points in a losing effort. Yet interestingly, he didn’t shoot any free throws across 30 minutes of play.
Per StatMuse, this marks the very first time that Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t shoot a free throw in a single game in 1,205 days. In the team’s previous loss last April 4 against the Houston Rockets, he also only went 1-of-2 in the charity stripe.
At his postgame presser against the Lakers, the Oklahoma City guard expressed interesting thoughts about his unusual absence in the free-throw area against Los Angeles.
“I don’t know. I didn’t get fouled, and I don’t think that necessarily needs to change,” he said.
“I don’t know how many I had tonight, but I felt good offensively. I don’t think we lost because I didn’t shoot free throws, and I’m all about trying to win. So, I don’t think that necessarily needs to change.
“We need to play defense for sure next game if we want to win.”
Considering that Gilgeous-Alexander has been tactical in getting free throws since his rookie year, as told by Lou Williams, it is truly mysterious how he came up with 0 trips to the line this weekend against the Lakers.
But more than diverting the discussion about Gilgeous-Alexander’s no-show in the foul line, the Lakers deserve plenty of props about this defensively.
LA boasts a plethora of solid lockdown guys from Dorian Finney-Smith and Jarred Vanderbilt while presenting one of the league’s best collective defense when they are on their game. Everyone undoubtedly played well in guarding the OKC sensation and the entire Thunder group that shot an awful 39-of-90 from the field (32.4% from the three-point line)
Gilgeous-Alexander will face the Lakers once again on April 8. In their rematch, it is likely that he will play even more aggressive to try and make a statement with a payback performance..
