“Our Team Doesn’t Really Like That”: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Competitiveness in Practice Hilariously Irks OKC Teammates

OKC Thunder’s Jalen Williams recently sat down with JJ Redick on the Old Man and the Three podcast. One of the major topics at hand proved to be the ever-so-impressive Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has been on a bit of a rampage since the start of the season. Talking about the 25-year-old’s impact on the dressing room, Williams revealed how SGA was effectively a “gym rat,” a habit that seemed to be rubbing off on his OKC Thunder teammates as well.

Williams claimed that he himself followed SGA’s example in his first year in the league, and claimed that he was “overly-competitive” during training. The Thunder SF suggested that Gilgeous-Alexander might still be in the gym shooting, during the interview,

“Yeah, he is super competitive. Our team doesn’t really like that. I like our practices, even the one we had today, was fun. Never like any brawls, but we always exchange words and like, our practices are really competitive. So, it’s always fun to practice but he is overly competitive. He is probably still in there shooting,” Williams said, before talking about how his teammates and himself had learned from SGA’s example.

“That was good for at least my first year because I ended up going with him. I was able to kind of learn from that. I feel like that is very infectious with the team,” Williams claimed.

Hence, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can be overly competitive during training, he is also a gym rat who has the presence to influence his teammates to take up the right habits. Williams suggested that while Thunder practices were generally intense, SGA regularly took things to the next level.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has emerged as one of the best young scorers in the NBA

SGA came from the University of Kentucky and was the 11th pick in the 2018 NBA draft. He was immediately transferred to the LA Clippers after being picked by the Hornets and was part of the Paul George trade back in July 2019.

Since then, he has been on a constant upward curve, having seen a consistent improvement year after year. SGA produced 31.4 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game last season and has started in commanding form this time around as well.

His performances last season earned him what was his first-ever All-Star appearance, and not many will be counting against him to repeat the achievement this year.

A natural scorer, SGA has a unique ability to get past defenders and has seen his shooting improve consistently in recent seasons. He is already being heralded as one of the best players in the league and has everything he needs to become a bonafide great.