'I Think I'm the Best Player in the NBA.' The Excellence of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

We are talking in the back of a black SUV, parked in front of his offseason home in the Toronto suburbs, when I mention the bit of satire that went viral during the Western Conference Finals in May. I hand him my phone and he laughs.Gilgeous-Alexander, or SGA, is known for many things—winning NBA MVP two years in a row; becoming one of the only players in league history to sweep the regular-season MVP, scoring title, and Finals MVP in the same year (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, and Shaquille O’Neal are the others); being selected four times for both the All-Star team and the All-NBA First Team; and being named the 2026 Clutch Player of the Year. But the Oklahoma City Thunder superstar who has achieved initial status—think MJ, Dr. J, or KD—has also faced backlash. Fellow players, pundits, and the NBA’s chaotic online tinderbox have accused him of “flopping”—or acting as if he were hit much harder than he really was, often falling down in the process, to goad the ref into calling a foul. The goal: get to the free-throw line for two easy points. Photograph by Sharif Hamza for TIMESan Antonio’s 7-ft. 4-in. alien talent Victor Wembanyama helped unleash this anger in December whe...