Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Proclaims Vinicius Jr. the Best Player in the World

On Monday, French magazine France Football hosted the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris, where Premier League side Manchester City’s midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante, better known as Rodri, was crowned the best player in the world, much to the disappointment of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Thunder superstar is among the droves of fans who believe reigning European champions Real Madrid’s star Vinicius Jr. deserved the prize.

The guard posted a photo of Vinicius kissing the Real Madrid jersey on his Instagram stories and captioned it, “The best player in the world,” and added a goat emoji. The Brazilian soccer sensation was the heavy favorite to win the prize, but the City star took home the prize, which caused a stir on social media.

Shai supporting Vinicius isn’t surprising. The duo have been friends since the OKC guard went to Madrid to watch the team in action and caught up with the winger after the game.

The Brazilian returned the favor, and attended several NBA games last year, while the soccer world was on a winter break. On his road trip to the NBA, he sat courtside at an OKC game when they beat the Clippers 134-115. Shai scored 31 points that night. The duo exchanged signed jerseys afterward.

Shai and Vini share a connection

The duo became fast friends in May 2023, and Shai even included Vini in a list of people he’d like to spend a day with. In October 2023, a couple of days after he posed for a campaign for her Skims brand, Kim Kardashian interviewed the OKC star.

One of the questions she asked him was about five people he’d spend a day with. Shai named the late designer Virgil Abloh, Canadian rapper Drake, movie star Denzel Washington, and Lakers icon Kobe Bryant. He capped off his list with Vinicius and said,

“Vinícius Júnior, he’s a soccer player that I’ve been able to connect with. He’s a cool guy.”

The guard and winger play different sports on different continents and speak different languages, but still managed to build a strong rapport and become close friends.