Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has won one win as he brings the Oklahoma City Thunder the first ever NBA championship.
The Indiana Pacers had a 120-109 defeat in Game 5 of the 2025 NBA Finals, with no answer to the OKC Thunder.
As expected, Shy Gilgauss Alexander played a solid game as he continued his incredible 2025 postseason run. With each passing game, it’s becoming clear that the Thunder has a generational star on the SGA roster.
At the same time, the Los Angeles Clippers must be sullied to give up the 2025 NBA MVP. After all, the SGA was sent to Thunder as part of the blockbuster trade to sign Paul George in 2019.
When Shai-George trade happened, Doc Rivers was the head coach of the LA Clippers. Apparently he was involved in the decision to say goodbye to the SGA in support of PG13.
Fast forward to 2025, it’s clear that allowing the Clippers to trade Gilgauss Alexander was one of the biggest mistakes Doc made during his stint with his team.
However, Rivers believes that when the Clippers send him to lightning, no one expects him to become his star today.
“I loved him. Yeah, I loved him. I told you, I told you three years ago. But I would, I mean, no one saw this,” Rivers told the Bill Simmons podcast.
He added: “I say, and we’ve spoken about Sam Cassel before. Sam was really high on him and almost devastated when we were going to trade him.”
The Rivers and the Clippers should have listened to then-assistant coach Sam Cassel.
At the time, the Clippers were signing Kawi Leonard following Claw’s incredible championship run with the Toronto Raptors.
Obviously, the Clippers wanted to make Leonard happy. However, the Clippers make a mistake by trusting Kawi’s judgment as they made it clear that it was Claw who wanted George in place of the SGA.
Despite knowing this, Gilgus Alexander was a professional professional when Rivers told him about trade.
“We were so happy to get a kowhi that we bothered Shy to make that call, and I shared that it was a difficult call and he treated it like that kind of professional.
“But you felt that was something like this.
When Rivers spoke to Cassel about trade, the former Clippers assistant coach issued a warning to the franchise.
“When I called Sam, Sam also spoke to him, Sam said, “We just handed over an assassin.”
As Cassell predicted, SGA trade still plagues the Clippers. After all, Gilgeous-Alexander has one victory since winning the NBA title, but the Clippers are not close to achieving their dreams after breaking up with future NBA MVPs.