Oklahoma City Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti pushed back against those questioning the validity of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s free throws.
“He’s playing against six people. He’s got five defenders, and the sixth defender is social media,” Presti told reporters Monday at his end-of-season press conference. “That’s a reality, and he’s not gonna be the last player that the machine decides to target.”
The two-time MVP led the Association in free throws made per contest for the third straight season. But his average in each of those campaigns was far lower than his career-high 9.8 free throws made in 2022-23.
“He drew a lot more fouls before we got much better. And when we got better, obviously, people pay more attention to him,” Presti said.
Presti also pointed to Gilgeous-Alexander’s throwback mid-range game as a major reason why he gets fouled more frequently than others.
The 2025 Executive of the Year says that foul-drawing is part of the game and something “every other great player in the NBA” does.
“He drew 415 fouls this year. Eleven were challenged – 11. Four of those were overturned,” Presti said. “So, that’s like 2.5% of the foul calls were actually challenged.”
Presti added: “He’s tied with (Joel) Embiid for eight and nine in terms of number of fouls drawn in the season. Six and seven are Jaylen Brown and (Victor) Wembanyama, (respectively). So, that’s kind of the group of players that he’s in.”
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.1 points, 6.6 assists, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.4 steals across 68 appearances en route to earning his second straight Michael Jordan Trophy. He also captured Clutch Player of the Year honors.
Oklahoma City fell short in its pursuit of back-to-back titles, losing in seven games to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals.
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Source: Sports Basketball – The Score
