Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is about to be named the Most Valuable Player in the league. He’s also the biggest flopper, if you believe what many are saying about him. It’s become enough of a talking point that it entered into the broadcast of the Conference Finals.
“He’s taken seven free throws already in four and a half minutes,” Mike Breen commented on Monday during Game 1 between the Thunder and Wolves.
“There’s a reason NBA Twitter likes to call him the free throw merchant, Mike,” Doris Burke responded.
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Those free throws frustrate players, fans, and media. One of SGA’s early attempts came as a result of a technical foul. Anthony Edwards tossed the ball at Gilgeous-Alexander after SGA earned yet another trip to the line, hitting his knee.
Anthony Edwards got hit with a technical foul for tossing the ball at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 😬pic.twitter.com/uHetV3iQur
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 21, 2025
Nobody likes to watch flopping. Gilgeous-Alexander has undeniably done it at times throughout these playoffs. He had one that was egregious enough to get challenged and reversed.
EMBARRASSING to call this a foul. What are we doing?? pic.twitter.com/KuOIiIeJP0
— Coach Gibson Pyper (@HalfCourtHoops) May 21, 2025
Those moments stick out in our collective memory. How bad is the problem really though?
MORE: Social media reacts to SGA fouls in Game 1
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander free throw merchant claims are way overstated
According to Thunder opponents, Oklahoma City gets the best whistle in the league. The stats don’t really back that up.
If you ask most fans who watched Game 1 on Monday, they would tell you the Thunder were getting every single foul call. In reality, both teams were whistled for 22 fouls.
The Thunder did have a 26-21 edge in free throws, but they also had an incredible 54 to 20 advantage in points in the paint and a 12-0 advantage in fast break points. The Wolves shot a massive 51 3’s to the Thunder’s 21. When you are driving the ball and attacking the paint, you’re going to get to the line more than when you’re shooting jumpers.
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The Thunder are as physical on offense as any team in the league. They’ve been ranked second in drives per game both during the regular season and playoffs. That hasn’t translated to a great whistle, and coach Mark Daigneault has lamented that all season.
Oklahoma City has been pretty average when it comes to their free throw discrepancy in the playoffs. And opponents actually shot 270 more free throws than them during the regular season.
So the Thunder don’t get an unbelievable whistle as a team. But what about Gilgeous-Alexander?
If you look at all of the foul calls from Game 1, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. There are some flops mixed in there, and some clear foul-baiting. There are also a lot of times that he is legitimately getting fouled. You can check for yourself.
All the 13 times Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was fouled in Game 1 vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves.
One of the fouls was successfully challenged, so technically 12 fouls.
Western Conference Finals, 2025 NBA Playoffs. pic.twitter.com/wbvo2jJGu0— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) May 21, 2025
Gilgeous-Alexander’s flopping is happening, but it’s very overstated. He’s a difficult player to officiate, because nobody moves quite like him. Basketball She Wrote’s Caitlin Cooper stated it better than I could have.
SGA, who plays basketball like a human slinky, gets a different whistle than everyone else in the league because he moves differently than everyone else in the league.
— Caitlin Cooper (@C2_Cooper) May 21, 2025
The free throw merchant claims don’t do justice to how good of a player Gilgeous-Alexander is. He’s led the league in drives per game for five straight years. That’s not easy to do when you’re not a nuclear athlete. He’s one of the craftiest players to watch, slithering into the paint with creative and weird misdirection.
Gilgeous-Alexander also doesn’t get his points from the free throw line that often. Most of his scoring comes from seeing the ball go in the bucket. His rate of scoring at the line during the playoffs has been the same as guys like Jaren Jackson Jr. and Scotty Pippen Jr., who don’t come even close to receiving the same level of free throw merchant criticism.
| Player | Percentage of points from the free throw line in the playoffs |
|---|---|
| 1. Steven Adams* | 40.0% |
| 2. Kristaps Porzingis | 36.5% |
| 3. John Konchar | 36.3% |
| 4. Mitchell Robinson* | 36.0% |
| 5. Ausar Thompson | 30.4% |
| 6. Jimmy Butler | 30.4% |
| 7. Bennedict Mathurin | 29.5% |
| 8. Damian Lillard | 28.5% |
| 9. Jarrett Allen | 27.3% |
| 10. Luka Doncic | 27.1% |
| 11. Jalen Duren | 26.8% |
| 12. Giannis Antetokounmpo | 26.7% |
| 13. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 26.5% |
| 14. Jaren Jackson Jr. | 26.5% |
| 15. Scotty Pippen Jr. | 26.0% |
* getting intentionally fouled
When you look at SGA’s rate of free throws in comparison to other MVPs, he again looks pretty pedestrian. Great scorers get a lot of foul calls. His free throw scoring is right in line with most other MVP guards.
If you’re going to call Shai Gilgeous-Alexander a free throw merchant, then you have to do the same for most of the MVP guards throughout NBA history. Getting a quarter of your points from the line when you’re an MVP-caliber guard is not unusual.
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— Steph Noh (@stephnoh.bsky.social) April 11, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Gilgeous-Alexander’s style of play may not be for everyone. It is certainly reasonable to not enjoy watching a player throwing his head back on every drive. But reducing his game to foul drawing is a huge disservice to how great of a player he is. He’s leading the Thunder to a great chance at the title thanks mostly to his two-way play, his craftiness, and his bucket-getting.
