Legendary Commentator Defends Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s ‘Flopping’ Allegations: “So Do 287 Others”

Social media narratives have been targeting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his Oklahoma City Thunder for flopping.

Legendary Commentator Defends Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s ‘Flopping’ Allegations: “So Do 287 Others”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Mike Breen (Image via FirstSportz)

In Short
  • Mike Breen defends Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, stating that many NBA players engage in flopping.
  • Richard Jefferson emphasizes that Gilgeous-Alexander's scoring remains high even without free throws.
  • Chris Broussard believes winning championships overshadows any negative narratives about players.

Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals is around the corner, and most of the discussions are surrounding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the flopping and foul-baiting the Oklahoma City Thunder are getting away with.

This has been the norm ever since the team started its dominating run last season, and it is highly unlikely that it will ever cease to become a topic.

The officiating deficit between the two teams has dominated debates, with many complaining that the league is allowing the defending champions to get away with fouls that others cannot.

Even Stephon Castle highlighted how the Thunder were able to impose their physicality, while his San Antonio Spurs cannot think of doing the same.

Does he sell calls sometimes? Absolutely, but so do 287 other players in the NBA sell calls. Quite frankly, it’s a strategy to win. When they weren’t a championship contender, he was doing the same thing, and nobody was complaining about it. They’re complaining now because they’re winning, and they are beating teams.

Mike Breen said on The Dan Patrick Show

Famed for his ‘double bang’ calls, Mike Breen has watched the NBA grow over the past three decades. After seeing everything, he does not believe that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is getting an unfair call.

Even though his former broadcast colleague might disagree, the ESPN commentator pointed out how the Canadian was doing this when the Thunder were not successful.

But no one bothered to look at it at the time. It is just because he won two MVPs and is fighting to win two championships that everyone thinks his actions are bad for the game.

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Former champion does not believe narratives matter to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

When Mike Breen pointed to the fact that several players do exactly what Shai Gilgeous-Alexander does, he made it clear that no one talks about it.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been exceptional this season
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been exceptional this season (Image via SLAM Kicks/X)

When this conversation reached the Road Trippin’ Show, Richard Jefferson decided to use some statistics to talk about the narratives surrounding the Thunder superstar.

If you take away every free throw that Shai shoots… if you take away free throws from the game of basketball, he is still top 2 or 3 in scoring. That’s how many buckets he gets. His efficiency is at 50 plus for multiple years… If I don’t like a player, I can lead into a narrative… So, like that narrative can be driven without people trying to actually impose it.

Richard Jefferson said

The former champion believes that SGA is unbothered by the narratives and the taunts that opposing fans throw at him. That is why he already has a ring on his finger and two MVP awards in his trophy case.

If he goes on to win this year’s title and more, it will further prove that all the narratives created on social media do not affect Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or the Thunder.

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Analyst believes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander winning the championship is all that matters

The reason the furor surrounding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander resurfaced is that everyone noticed the box score. In Game 5, he scored 32 points, 16 of which came from free throws.

I was impressed. Man, win and advance. That’s all that matters at this point… He’s the superstar. If they win the championship, let’s say he plays in the Finals like this, he’s got two straight MVPs and two straight championships as the best player on the team. That’s all that matters.

Chris Broussard said

His saying this left his First Things First colleague Nick Wright baffled, as the latter has always called out the foul-baiting and the flopping. Broussard agreed the NBA has to clean up those two things.

But he also reiterated that once the Thunder win this title, all of these narratives would not matter. The analyst believes that great players do have an advantage that others may not like.

He also pointed out that if one were to halve Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s free throws, he would still have had a stellar performance in Game 5.

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