Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Shares Message After Making All-NBA First Team
Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was selected to the All-NBA first team on Wednesday, being rewarded for an incredible regular season in Oklahoma City.
After notching the major achievement for the first time in his career, Gilgeous-Alexander took to Instagram with a message for his fans, and his haters.
Sharing a multitude of photos from throughout the season, Gilgeous-Alexander celebrated the nod with another one of his beloved Instagram captions, which as usual, didn’t disappoint.
“They used to make jokes and say the team I’m ons the worst, now I wake up & the team I’m on is First...” wrote the 24-year-old on the social media platform.
Gilgeous-Alexander appeared to be commenting on the strides the Thunder have taken in the years following his arrival to the team via trade from the Clippers back in 2019.
Oklahoma City won 22 games in 2020-21 and 24 games in 2021-22 before reaching the NBA play-in tournament during a breakout 40-win season in 2022-23. Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game this season en route to his first-ever All-NBA selection.
Having the team trending in the right direction and no longer in the cellar of the Western Conference likely makes Gilgeous-Alexander’s individual accolade feel even better.
Gilgeous-Alexander joins Luka Dončić, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo on the 2022-23 All-NBA first team, having earned his place among the league’s biggest stars.