The truth behind Anthony Edwards’ and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's whistles

Does SGA really get a better whistle? What if it has nothing to do with SGA and everything to do with Ant?

Feb 24, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) works to keep the ball inbounds as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) defends during the second half at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Does Shai Gilgeous-Alexander get a better whistle than Anthony Edwards?

Entering play Thursday, SGA has drawn 356 fouls compared to 247 by Edwards. While you may immediately think that means Gilgeous-Alexander gets a friendlier whistle from the refs than Edwards, we need to do a deep dive to truly figure out the answer.

Let's start with the difference in styles of play. A whopping 48.7% of Edwards's shot attempts this season are three-pointers (581 of 1,192). SGA is the opposite, with 73.5% of his NBA-leading 1,211 field-goal attempts coming from inside the three-point line.

Naturally, players who shoot more threes are going to be fouled less than players who are shooting in areas of the court with more player congestion and aggressive defense. That definitely yields a better free-throw environment for SGA.

Edwards actually draws a foul more often than SGA on two-point attempts (22.1% to 20%).

A higher percentage of Edwards's drives also end in a drawn foul (11.9% to 9.7%). Notably, SGA has 1,152 drives compared to 825 for Edwards.

However, SGA has a higher rate of shooting fouls drawn than Edwards (15.9% to 12.6%).

There are 15 notable guards or small forwards with a higher shooting fouls drawn (SFD in the chart below) rate than Edwards this season.

1. Jimmy Butler, 23.46%
2. Deni Avdija, 19.09%
3. Amen Thompson, 17.06%
4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 15.88%
5. James Harden, 15.67%
6. Ja Morant, 15.66%
7. DeMar DeRozan, 15.25%
8. Bennedict Mathurin, 14.95%
9. Spencer Dinwiddie, 14.71%
10. Luka Doncic, 13.77%
11. Damian Lillard, 13.64%
12. Austin Reaves, 13.39%
13. Jalen Brunson, 13.36%
14. Jaylen Brown, 12.78%
15. Devin Booker, 12.69%

Player	FTA	Tech FTA	2PT SFD	2PT And 1s	3PT SFD	3PT And 1s	Non-shooting fouls drawn resulting in FTs
Shai	514	23	210	50	10	1	49
Ant	348	10	161	43	4	1	25

At the end of the day, we can easily explain how SGA has attempted 166 more free-throws than Edwards. Here's the breakdown.

• 98 attempts via 49 more fouls drawn on two-point shots
• 7 attempts via seven more And-1 calls on two-point shots
• 18 attempts via six more drawn fouls on three-point shots
• 43 attempts via 24 more non-shooting fouls drawn resulting in free throws

All that is pretty easy to understand. But ever since Charles Barkley criticized Edwards on national TV following a Jan. 2 loss to the Boston Celtics — about shooting too many threes — Edwards is second in the NBA with 9.3 free-throw attempts per game. Only SGA (10.5) has averaged more since then.

From the beginning of the season through Jan. 2, Edwards averaged 3.8 free-throw attempts while SGA was averaging eight per game. Why the change? It's probably because Edwards averaged 12.6 drives per game through Jan. 2 and has since averaged 17 drives per game. All along, 48% of of his shot attempts per game have been threes.

That right there, folks, is how you explain the 166 free-throw attempt difference between Edwards and SGA.

However, the biggest mystery is how Edwards, despite attempting the most threes in the league (581), has a three-point shooting foul drawn rate of 0.68%. James Harden leads the league with 7.46% of threes drawing a foul. Damian Lillard is at 6.97%, and SGA is at 2.74%.

Maybe Edwards just has to master the flop to get to SGA's level at the line?

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