1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played one year of college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats and was selected 11th overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2018 NBA draft before being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers that same night.
50 Facts About Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a three-time NBA All-Star and two-time All-NBA First Team member.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was given the Northern Star Award in 2023 as Canadian athlete of the year, only the second basketball player so honoured.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was born in Toronto, Ontario, and grew up in Hamilton, Ontario.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's mother, Charmaine Gilgeous, is a former track athlete, who competed in the women's 400 metres for Antigua and Barbuda at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander began high school in Hamilton at St Thomas More Catholic Secondary School before switching to Sir Allan MacNab Secondary School.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander then moved to the United States, transferring to Hamilton Heights Christian Academy for his junior and senior years to improve his basketball skills, graduating in 2017.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ended up winning team MVP and leading St Thomas More to the midget boys' city championship.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander then attended Sir Allan MacNab Secondary School before heading to Hamilton Heights Christian Academy in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2015.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named the most valuable player of the Kentucky Derby Classic.
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When he first stepped on the University of Kentucky's campus, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had long hair.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continued to lead the team for the following two games, scoring 21 points against Georgia and 18 against LSU.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a consistent contributor to a "struggling" UK team that had a four-game losing streak during the season.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became a starter along with four other freshmen: Hamidou Diallo, Nick Richards, Kevin Knox II, and P J Washington.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a great SEC tournament and continued that momentum into the NCAA Tournament.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's final college basketball moment was a missed three-point attempt at the buzzer.
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On June 21,2018, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was selected 11th overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2018 NBA draft, before being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers the same day, for the pick after him and two future second-round picks.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played for the team in the 2018 NBA Summer League, where he averaged 19 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2.3 steals per game.
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On October 8,2019, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made his preseason debut with the Oklahoma City Thunder against the Dallas Mavericks.
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On March 28,2022, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was ruled out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished the season averaging career highs of 24.5 points and 5.9 assists per game.
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On October 31,2022, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named the NBA Western Conference Player of the Week for Week 2, his second career NBA Player of the Week award.
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On February 2,2023, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named to his first-ever NBA All-Star Game as a reserve guard for the Western Conference.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ended the season with a career-high 31.4 points per game average, joining Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook as the only players in Thunder history to average at least 30 points per game in a season.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became the second guard in NBA history behind Michael Jordan to average at least 30 points, four rebounds, four assists, one steal and one blocked shot while shooting at least 50 percent from the field.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander subsequently became the youngest guard in NBA history to average 30 points on 50 percent from the field beating Jordan's record.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named to his first All-NBA First Team.
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On January 25,2024, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named a Western Conference starter for the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, marking his second consecutive selection and his first selection as a starter.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put up his 48th 30-point game of the season, surpassing Kevin Durant's previous Thunder franchise record of 47 for the most 30-point games in a season.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished the season's MVP race in 2nd place and was selected to the All-NBA First Team for the second consecutive time.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished Game 4 with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
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On January 2,2025, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder to their 13th straight win.
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On January 25, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named a Western Conference starter for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game, marking his third consecutive selection and his second selection in a row as a starter.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became the ninth player in NBA history to score at least 50 points three times in a seven-game span.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tied Kevin Durant for second in franchise history, trailing only Russell Westbrook, who had five 50-piece games while with the club.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became just the 12th player in NBA history to achieve four games with at least 50 points in a single season.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became the fastest player in Thunder franchise history to achieve 10,000 career points, doing so in 368 games and surpassing the previous record set by Kevin Durant at 381 games.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played for the Canadian junior national team that competed in the 2016 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship in Valdivia, Chile, averaging 7.8 points, 5.4 assists, and 4.0 rebounds per contest, en route to winning a silver medal.
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On May 24,2022, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was one of fourteen players to agree to a three-year commitment to play with the national team, aiming to break a decades-long trend of failing to qualify for the Olympic basketball tournament.
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At the 2023 FIBA World Cup, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the central figure on the Canadian roster, leading them on a historic deep run.
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In recognition of his individual play, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named to the World Cup All-Tournament Team.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was only the second basketball player to receive the two honours, in both cases after Steve Nash.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named to Canada's roster for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named to the tournament's All-Second Team, after averaging 21 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4 assists per game.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's younger brother, Thomasi, was a college basketball player for the Evansville Purple Aces.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's younger cousin, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, is an NBA player for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
47.
In July 2020, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander signed an endorsement deal with Converse.
48.
In spring 2023, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander purchased a lakefront property in Burlington, Ontario that was previously occupied by bankrupt cryptocurrency trader Aiden Pleterski.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander alleges that the seller, a real estate investor who had leased the property to Pleterski, disclosed neither the property's link to the trader, nor various threats that have been made against the property by Pleterski's investors.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won his lawsuit and was able to undo the purchase of the home, and the appeal by the real estate investor was denied.