'I Think I'm the Best Player in the NBA.' The Excellence of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

—Photography by Sharif Hamza for TIME Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had not seen the Onion headline.

We are talking in the back of a black SUV, parked in front of his offseason home in the Toronto suburbs, when I mention the bit of satire that went viral during the Western Conference Finals in May.

I hand him my phone and he laughs.

“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Trying to Draw Foul While Shooting Free Throw,” reads the headline, which is accompanied by an image of him flailing on the foul line.

“Trying to draw a foul at the free-throw line,” he says, “that would be good.” Gilgeous-Alexander, or SGA, is known for many things—winning NBA MVP two years in a row; becoming one of the only players in league history to sweep the regular-season MVP, scoring title, and Finals MVP in the same year (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, and Shaquille O’Neal are the others); being selected four times for both the All-Star team and the All-NBA First Team; and being named the 2026 Clutch Player of the Year.

But the Oklahoma City Thunder superstar who has achieved initial status—think MJ, Dr.

J, or KD—has also faced backlash.

Fellow players, pundits, and the NBA’s chaotic online tinderbox have accused him of “flopping”—or acting as if he were hit much harder than he really was, often falling down in the process, to goad the ref into calling a foul.

The goal: get to the free-throw line for two easy points. —Photograph by Sharif Hamza for TIME San Antonio’s 7-ft.

4-in. alien talent Victor Wembanyama helped unleash this anger in December when he said, after a Spurs win over the Thunder, that he was glad to suit up for a team that practiced “pure and ethical basketball.” The implication was clear: OKC is a bunch of foul merchants, with Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the NBA in free-throws-made per game for a third straight season, the top salesman.

The criticism only escalated when the Thunder faced the Spurs for a spot in the Finals.

I want to gauge SGA’s feelings about all the noise.

Up to this point, he has seemed almost universally admired, if not beloved—perhaps by dint of his businesslike demeanor, low-wattage Canadian upbringing, and small-market employer .

Understandably, given his 30-plus-points-per-game average, 88% efficiency from the line over the past three regular seasons and playoffs combined, plethora of honors, and the $285 million contract extension he signed in July 2025, SGA is unapologetic about his approach to scoring.