Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Had Plenty To Say To TIME Magazine

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has never lacked confidence in himself. After everything he has accomplished with the Oklahoma City Thunder, it’s easy to understand why. He’s won back-to-back MVP awards, led the franchise to a championship and established himself as one of the best players in basketball.

But even after reaching the top of the NBA, Gilgeous-Alexander knows there is still work to do.

In an interview with TIME, the Thunder star opened up about the team’s Game 7 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, the criticism he receives for his playing style and why he believes he is the best player in the league.

“I think I’m the best player in the NBA,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

He isn’t backing away from that belief, and his resume gives him plenty of reasons to feel that way. Still, the loss to San Antonio showed that even a championship team has things to figure out.

For Gilgeous-Alexander, the disappointment hasn’t turned into anger. Instead, he’s looking at the loss as an opportunity to figure out what went wrong and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“Even as a kid, I was never good when I played mad. Never, never, never, never. I just don’t think you make the best decisions,” he said.

It’s an approach that says a lot about how Gilgeous-Alexander handles adversity. He could spend the offseason thinking about the Spurs and what the Thunder should have done differently in that series. Instead, he’s focused on what he can control.

“I wasn’t happy to lose,” he said. “But I was like, ‘OK, good, I deserved it.’ It’s my job to figure out why I didn’t deserve to win. I attack losing.”

That mentality also explains why Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t interested in letting the criticism of Chet Holmgren turn into a conversation about one player being responsible for the team’s elimination.

Holmgren faced questions after the series, but Gilgeous-Alexander made it clear that he wasn’t going to put the blame on his teammate.

“I don’t think it’s on Chet,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I carry a lot of the weight.”

For a player who has become the face of the franchise, that’s an important message. Gilgeous-Alexander understands the expectations that come with being the best player on a championship team. When things go wrong, he knows people are going to look at him first.

Rather than avoid that responsibility, he’s embracing it.

The interview also touched on another subject that has followed Gilgeous-Alexander throughout his rise to stardom: the criticism he receives for drawing fouls.

Some fans believe he gets too many calls, while others see it as part of what makes him so difficult to defend. Gilgeous-Alexander explained that falling is often a natural part of how he attacks the basket and maintains his balance, rather than something he does simply to get a whistle.

It’s a criticism he’s heard plenty of times, but it hasn’t changed how he approaches the game.

For Oklahoma City, the focus now shifts to what comes next. The Thunder know what it takes to win a championship, but their loss to San Antonio showed how quickly things can change in the playoffs.

Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t treating the defeat as a reason to panic or spend the offseason looking for revenge. He’s treating it as a reminder that there are things he and the team need to improve.

His confidence hasn’t changed, and neither have his expectations.

He believes he’s the best player in the NBA. Now, he has another season to prove it.

More importantly, he has another opportunity to help the Thunder get back to where they want to be.

For Gilgeous-Alexander, the loss to San Antonio isn’t something to forget. It’s something to learn from. And if his approach to the offseason is any indication, he’s already thinking about what he needs to do differently when the Thunder get another shot.