NEW YORK — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s stardom has transcended trends.
It’s rejuvenated a city that’s only ever been spoiled with basketball royalty, among the NBA’s most unlikely banks of wealth. It’s lifted him above his bigger-market, better-marketed peers in All-Star voting, with fans gravitating toward his trench coats and slick handle alone.
And on Wednesday night, it served as an elbow from the top rope, a hit to the dying agenda of Adam Silver’s NBA. Gilgeous-Alexander, in all his small-market glory, has threatened Silver’s vow to milk the last days of stars like LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, an attachment to the league’s most recent era and most popular markets.
Bump the Candid Camera. SGA and the Thunder — as well as the Cavaliers and anyone else being hidden at the expense of evolutionary basketball — are commanding prime time.
If Gilgeous-Alexander means what he says, the NBA won’t have much choice but to reinsert itself in cities like Cleveland and Oklahoma City — this time without the memory of James or Durant to cling to.
"I love Oklahoma City,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, asked whether stars care about markets following his 31-point performance in the Thunder’s 129-122 loss in Cleveland. “I can’t see a world where I’m not in Oklahoma City. Market, no market. I don’t care. I love where I am. I’m comfortable where I am. I love the people in the organization, the people around me, and those are the things that matter. I go to work everyday with a smile on my face.
“The money doesn’t matter, to a certain extent. As long as I enjoy what I'm doing at a very high level, love the people that I'm around doing it, market doesn't matter to me."
Thunder-Cavaliers game a showcase for NBA's small-market teams
Even before SGA’s ode to OKC, Wednesday night’s game was a clear declaration of the current status of the NBA. A game between the league’s two best regular-season teams, projected as a 12-round bout, was even more than anticipated: 30 lead changes, young stars with loud performances and a kumbaya celebrating small-market pride.
“Was that a great basketball game or what?” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “... Whoever won, lost, it’s just a good game for the league, for the fans. Really exciting. Great for the game.”
Gilgeous-Alexander’s monologue — a verbal reassurance to the fans in Oklahoma City who sometimes need to pinch themselves these days — was the final kiss to a crew of national TV cameras that weren’t even scheduled to be there less than one month earlier.
A fitting sign-off to what became a 48-minute time capsule. The ingenuity of the offense, the chess board disguised as a defense. Frozen in time, the Thunder and Cavs, a collision of regular-season dominance, acted as the pinnacle of regular-season hoops.
Should Silver pour into Gilgeous-Alexander and his youthful peers in the coming years, regardless of market, they’ll dig up Wednesday as a reason.
Gilgeous-Alexander was later questioned on his thoughts on the notion that stars can emerge anywhere in the age of the internet.
“The internet does make it easier for people to be seen,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I can only speak for myself, and I play this game to win championships, and that journey is all I care about. The coverage I get I can’t control. The ranking I get I can't control. I can just be the best version of myself for my team to win a championship and have fun doing it every day. And that's what really matters to me.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in perfect sync with OKC Thunder
His priorities have been clear: Clutch those close to him and pursue rings, his way. The grass isn’t always greener. Seven years in, Gilgeous-Alexander seems partial to the prairies.
Somewhere in the early days of the Thunder’s window of title contention, Gilgeous-Alexander believes to be positioned with everything he values in Oklahoma City.
That much became clear to the world (and Silver) on Wednesday.
That’ll force hands higher up than SGA’s. He isn’t the first, nor the last superstar to appear indifferent toward tampering with his image, or at least cultivating one that the NBA’s tastemakers salivate over. He’s not as mouthy or explosive as Anthony Edwards, not as candid as Durant, not as extraterrestrial as Victor Wembanyama, not as fond of stepbacks and good-spirited profanity as Luka Doncic.
But Gilgeous-Alexander is a star among stars, worthy of being followed from Oklahoma City to Tokyo to Pluto.
Only one of those places remains home to SGA, and by association, the future of the NBA.
Gilgeous-Alexander won’t lead the league to water. But he won’t keep them from following the constellation that’s become Oklahoma City.
“Sure,” Gilgeous-Alexander smirked, asked if nearby cameras should multiply after Wednesday. “Why not? Won't hurt.”
Joel Lorenzicovers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joel? He can be reached at jlorenzi@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at@jxlorenzi. Support Joel's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing adigital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
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