Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the reigning MVP, reigning Finals MVP, and one of the best basketball players on planet earth.
He also has the reputation of getting friendly calls from officials and looking for contact to go to the free throw line. Doris Burke even called him out as a “free throw merchant.” Emerging rival Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs have even taken a bit more subtle shots when talking about playing “ethical basketball.”
It’s an unfortunate moniker that has been attached to SGA because he is a brilliant player with a one-of-one offensive game and constantly drives to the basket, creating plays where whistles are more likely to be blown.
But then plays happen like Friday night with the Thunder at the Golden State Warriors, and you can understand where the hate comes from.
Although the game was shown nationally on Amazon Prime Video, it was also broadcast locally on NBC Sports Bay Area. And in the first quarter of the contest, Warriors announcers Bob Fitzgerald and Kelenna Azubuike were apoplectic over a foul call on Al Horford on an SGA drive.
The foul left Steph Curry, Steve Kerr, and the entire Chase Center were literally up in arms.
Al Horford is called for the foul on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and the Warriors announcers are having a meltdown (with replays) pic.twitter.com/D8Ro7v5e06
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) January 3, 2026
“Let me tell you, that is not a foul. Period,” Fitzgerald said, as he blamed the situation on the whistle being blown by the referee on the opposite side of the court. He also made sure to reference that it was the “most junior official” who made the call.
“Where is the contact? And how did you see it from 40 feet away on the other side of the court,” he continued with his voice raising with each word.
Azubuike tried to rationalize it in some way. But he came to the conclusion that it was one of those calls that only the reigning MVP would receive. “Maybe you could say there was some lower extremity contact to deem that enough if you were challenging that they would find a way to uphold it. But that’s not a good call. That’s one of those SGA whistle calls,” he said.
“That was called by the wrong official from the wrong spot, which is how you get misses,” Fitzgerald added.
But in spite of the protests, the Warriors did not challenge the call, which seems strange given the nuclear reaction. Of course, given the gulf in class between the two teams, it didn’t matter that much towards the overall outcome in the game. The Thunder blew out the Warriors 131-94 as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points in just 28 minutes, not even needing to play in the entire fourth quarter.
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