A NEW, REFRESHING NBA CIRCLES AROUND SGA AND ALL THINGS OKLAHOMA CITY
Anyone who thought Anthony Edwards would descend upon New York should focus on the magnitude of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is precious in taking over the sport and has a 2-0 lead over Minnesota
If there was a dream within the new data of organized parity — count them, the NBA will have a seventh different champion in seven seasons — we wanted Anthony Edwards playing in Madison Square Garden. Let him become the countenance of the new league in front of people who won’t disembark from light poles. Wasn’t that the June vision?
It might not be happening, fantasists. So far, the imagination of commissioner Adam Silver’s second-apron parity is painted in Oklahoma City, which happens to be America’s 42nd-biggest market and includes the thrill of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s resonant MVP breakthrough. He not only has caused waffling in the voice of Mike Malone, the bounced Denver coach, who first said Gilgeous-Alexander is “showing why he’s the MVP” before abruptly rebounding to Nikola Jokic because, “I’m getting a lot of heat back home.”
See, the artist with the bouncy, hyphenated name cannot be guarded as a lethal foul machine, making him a deeper intellectual package than Edwards. He scored 38 points Thursday night — on 12 of 21 field goals and 13 of 15 free throws — as the Thunder took a 2-0 lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals. This is a team known for gathering during TV interviews because SGA wants teammates to have fun, like a hype crew. This is a team that mistakenly wears similar outfits to a banquet in an AT&T ad. This is a team that plays relentless defense. They are led by someone who dresses in leisure wear and could appear on a game show as a coach of some sort — and the panelists wouldn’t know him.
Mark Daigneault is his name, and he is 40, younger than LeBron James. He was hired by Sam Presti, who once assembled Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden in three straight drafts and has created the next phase of basketball greatness in a city many of you aren’t sure exists. Unless the Thunder crash the rest of the series, prepare to see SGA, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Lu Dort and Alex Caruso in the Finals. They are not the Lakers. They are not the Warriors. They are not the Nuggets, minus Malone.
And they are not Anthony Edwards, whose next position in sports status continues to be clouded by his mouth. Earlier, he grabbed his crotch and yapped to enemy fans. This week, after Game 1, he said at a press conference, “I guess I gotta shoot more. I took only 13 f—ing shots.” He was fined $50,000, elevating his total this season to more than $420,000. These are not the numbers he wanted, and while he responded with 32 points, he needed 26 shots to get them.
Nothing is wrong with taxing the biggest spenders and establishing grotesque salary-cap rules. This allows the Thunder and Timberwolves to advance while the Warriors and Lakers fumble and bumble in Giannis Antetokounmpo talks. Just get used to SGA and a high-school-football crowd. Or, in the Eastern Conference, see if Indiana can reach the Finals after an all-time Game 1 comeback and bury the Knicks and hush Celebrity Row.
Oklahoma City to Indianapolis, round-trip.
There are no direct flights.
Rejoice in SGA, who comes from Canada, meaning America hasn’t produced an MVP since James Harden in 2018. Enjoy the Thunder, a picture of symmetry created by Presti and Daigneault. Enjoy Tyrese Haliburton, whose father must be pulled out of an Indianapolis bar — while Charles Barkley attempts to rescue him — after he was banned for bothering Antetokounmpo. These are fun stories. Don’t be riddled by boundaries.
“I feel like my emotions were so high, but I was a little bit tired out there, especially at the start,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the 118-103 victory. “I was a little too juiced up. Special moment. I’m happy we won so I can enjoy the last couple of days and soak it up. That really helps.”
“It keeps the team at ease that he's able to flip the page as quick as he is," said Williams, who had 26 points and 10 rebounds. "It kind of gets us in the same mode."
His initials and the MVP title were posted on Devon Tower, the city’s tallest building, on what the mayor called “Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Day in Oklahoma City.” Sure beats Hating Lincoln Riley Day.
“Any conversation, but guys who get this award — it’s hard to even wrap your head around,” SGA said. “Those guys have done amazing things with the game, changed the game in ways you couldn’t see coming. To even be in the same breath, it’s hard to even put into words.
“I guess, once the conversation started a couple of years ago, I never, like, thought THIS was going to happen. I dreamt about it as a kid, but as a kid, it’s a fake dream. As the days go on and you realize you’re closer to your dream, it’s hard not to freak out.”
He pondered, as a scene-dropper, trying to take over the game in the first quarter. "I was like, ‘Nah, that's probably not the way to go,’ ” he said. "I wanted to just let the game come to me. Lean on my teammates, play through them, play off of them. I just didn't want to force the issue. Let the game come to me.” He added eight assists and three steals. The MVP, Mike Malone.
Anyone waiting to hear from Edwards will keep waiting. He decided not to speak to media after Game 2, which created tension after Edwards and Julius Randle stared at a stat sheet and laughed after Game 1. Said Wolves coach Chris Finch: “Every minute in a series is a chance to find something. So we’re going to go back home.” But Edwards still looks age 23 as he tries to find consistent magic. He is receiving little help from Randle, who scored 6 points after dominating the Warriors in the last series.
What we love is the selflessness of the Thunder, despite the MVP. “Just that we were who we are,” Daigneault said. “That’s the biggest thing. That’s enough with this team. I mean, if we just bet on who we are individually and collectively, we’re a really hard team to beat.”
He is blessed to have SGA, who has become the league’s biggest star as Jokic drinks post-playoff beer. “When you win games, you do it together and you have fun out there,” he said. “Everything else — all the individual stuff you want — it comes with it.”
This is the NBA in 2025. It’s refreshing. Ignore the hype.
If you like basketball, please watch.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.