LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The NBA has always thrived on its biggest stars, Steph Curry, Nikola Jokic - some so famous you don't even need to say their last names, Giannis, LeBron. Now the league is turning to a generation of younger stars. And one of them will take center stage starting tonight in the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder. NPR's Becky Sullivan reports.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: If Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn't a name etched into your memory yet, you're forgiven because an MVP-level career isn't what most people expected when he was picked in the NBA draft seven years ago.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: With the 11th pick in the 2018 NBA draft, the Charlotte Hornets select Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
SULLIVAN: There can be an expectation for guys chosen really early in the draft to come in and transform a franchise, like LeBron James, picked first by Cleveland all those years ago. But Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - or SGA, as he's called - wasn't that, says Doris Burke, an NBA analyst at ESPN.
DORIS BURKE: He expected to be a good scorer in the league, somebody who was a solid part of a rotation. But it took him some time to start to believe that he could be the most valuable player in the best basketball league in the world.
SULLIVAN: But some people could see what was possible.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SAM PRESTI: Good morning, everybody.
SULLIVAN: This is Sam Presti, the general manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder talking back in 2019, when the Thunder had just agreed to this blockbuster trade. Oklahoma City would send away star forward Paul George in exchange for a bunch of future first round draft picks, plus this guy who had just wrapped up a promising rookie year.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESTI: And then, obviously, Shai, who we think has a tremendously bright future in the league.
SULLIVAN: It's amazing to look back at this now, how clearly the Thunder saw just how good a player SGA could be.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESTI: Where Shai is today is not close to where ultimately he's going to be, but we have to be really patient with that process.
SULLIVAN: Six years later, that patience has paid off. Oklahoma City just put up one of the most dominant regular seasons of all time. And their star, SGA, led the league in scoring. After he accepted the MVP award last month, he admitted even he was surprised at how all of this has turned out.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SHAI GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER: I never, like, thought this was going to happen. I never - like, I dreamt about it as a kid. But it's like, you know, as a kid, it's a fake dream. But as the days go on and you get closer to your dream, it's hard to, like, not freak out. It's hard to, like, not be a 6-year-old kid again. And I think that's what's allowed me to achieve it.
SULLIVAN: Gilgeous-Alexander's mom was a track star who competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics, and his dad was a high school basketball standout in Toronto, so maybe it wasn't a surprise that their son became an elite athlete. Every game, the wiry 6'6 point guard is a human highlight reel. Driving into the lane, his body moves at angles that defy physics, and he's gotten better from long range, too.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: Shooting is Gilgeous-Alexander. Nails the three.
(CHEERING)
SULLIVAN: There is one complaint to make about how he plays if you're one of his opponents, anyway. Gilgeous-Alexander draws a lot of fouls. Some say he exaggerates contact to get the calls.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER: So I shoot a lot of free throws.
SULLIVAN: Here he is addressing the criticism back in April.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER: I'm playing a game of basketball, and I'm trying to win. And if it takes nine free throws to win, if it takes two free throws to win, if it takes 40 free throws to win, I'm going to do whatever it takes to win. And what everyone else has to say, I don't really care about.
SULLIVAN: He has led the league in free throw attempts over the past two years and averaged more than 30 points per game. No matter how he scores, that's a number worthy of respect, says Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RICK CARLISLE: It's really hard to fathom how difficult it is to score 30 points, let alone doing it every game for two years in a row in the NBA. Just think about it. I mean, it's unbelievable.
SULLIVAN: The Pacers better believe it. They're the ones who have to stop him. Only 14 times in NBA history has a guy won MVP then gone on to win the title the same year. SGA is only four games away.
Becky Sullivan, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF ONRA'S "A NEW DYNASTY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
