The Western Conference Finals left a mark on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander that statistics alone cannot fully explain. San Antonio's disciplined, physical scheme neutralised the Oklahoma City Thunder star's most reliable weapon - drawing fouls - and since then, the narrative around the two-time MVP has shifted in ways that are proving difficult to reverse. Now, with Gilgeous-Alexander losing the Best NBA Player ESPY to Jalen Brunson despite holding the regular-season MVP trophy, the questions surrounding his legacy are growing louder.
Lou Williams, who watched SGA develop up close during their time together with the LA Clippers, has heard enough. On a recent episode of Underground Lounge, the veteran guard pushed back firmly against the criticism. "In our game, you want your young star to be coachable, a worker, one of the guys, the toughest, smartest," Williams said. "SGA was all of those things. He was one of the first rookies that I was on the team with that I said, 'Hey, that boy going to be a star.'" Williams went further, making clear his personal stake in SGA's reputation: "When he started his climb, and he got a championship out of it, he got an MVP out of it... that's my rook. So I ain't trying to hear none of that criticism about him. When I hear that, I want him to prove everybody wrong." It is the kind of unfiltered loyalty that resonates in locker rooms, even when the wider basketball public has begun to cool - much like how chandler drops out of favour with fans can signal how quickly public perception turns on elite athletes across sports when results no longer follow the narrative.
The Spurs' game plan was not complicated, but it was effective. Rather than pressing Gilgeous-Alexander and giving him the contact he has built so much of his offensive game around, San Antonio played him loose and physical only when truly necessary, denying him clean driving lanes and forcing him to create differently. The results were telling: against the Phoenix Suns in the previous playoff round, SGA averaged 12.3 free throw attempts per game. Against the Spurs, that figure fell to 9.3. For a player whose nickname - 'Free Throw Merchant' - has followed him like a shadow, the drop was significant enough to validate every sceptic who had questioned whether his foul-drawing ability was less elite skill and more exploitable habit.
MVP Numbers That Don't Tell the Whole Story
Gilgeous-Alexander's 2025-26 season was statistically remarkable. Averaging 31.1 points, 6.6 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game, he secured his second consecutive MVP award - a feat that places him in genuinely elite company. The Oklahoma City Thunder, built around him, were the Western Conference's dominant force through the regular season. None of that has been erased. But the playoffs, particularly the Conference Finals, introduced a caveat that will follow him into the offseason conversation. When the Spurs took away the foul calls, SGA could not respond decisively enough to flip the series on its head. That is the image that has stuck.
Brunson's ESPY Win Reflects a Shifting Public Mood
The Best NBA Player award at ESPN's ESPY Awards went to Jalen Brunson, and while the result may have surprised those who anchor their view purely on regular-season awards, the reasoning is difficult to dispute. Brunson, the centrepiece of the New York Knicks' championship run, collected the NBA Cup MVP, the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, and the NBA Finals MVP within a single season - a triple no player had previously achieved. He was the best player in the moments that mattered most, and fans recognised that. ESPY winners are determined by public vote, and right now, SGA's standing with the general basketball fanbase is complicated. His free-throw reputation, the Spurs series, and the questions it reopened have collectively eroded the goodwill that back-to-back MVP seasons had generated. Fan awards in that climate are unlikely to favour the player at the centre of the loudest controversy.
Where SGA Goes From Here
None of this diminishes what Gilgeous-Alexander has built. Two MVP awards, an NBA championship, and a place among the most productive offensive players of his generation are not achievements that a difficult playoff series and a fan vote can simply undo. But sport is not only about the record books. Perception matters, particularly for a player whose value to the Thunder is so tied to officials seeing the game through his lens. If defences have genuinely identified a repeatable blueprint - back off, stay disciplined, accept the mid-range jumpers - then SGA faces a real developmental test heading into 2026-27. Lou Williams' belief in him is not nothing. Williams saw the work ethic and the intelligence early. The question now is whether Gilgeous-Alexander can adapt his game enough to make the 'Free Throw Merchant' label feel like yesterday's story.
