Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nickeil Alexander-Walker Meet In NBA Playoffs

“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nickeil Alexander-Walker meet in NBA Playoffs”

Comply with The Oklahoman’s protection of Thunder vs. Timberwolves in Sport 1 of the Western Convention finals within the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

They share a candy tooth. They’ve the wing spans of a pterodactyl. Each sport braids beneath their headbands. They’re goofy, however you wouldn’t comprehend it from watching them play.

One is the MVP in Oklahoma Metropolis. The opposite bounced round earlier than discovering a house in Minnesota.

Cousins Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nickeil Alexander-Walker have confronted one another 15 instances now within the NBA — together with as soon as in a play-in sport — however by no means in a playoff sequence. Tuesday, they’ll match up in Sport 1 of the Western Convention finals.

SGA’s Thunder towards NAW and the Wolves.

Gilgeous-Alexander shook his head, as if calculating the lengthy odds.

“It’s hard to even explain,” he mentioned. “If you know how close we are, he’s literally like my second brother.”

Shai and Nickeil have been born 52 days aside. SGA’s father, Vaughn, and Alexander-Walker’s mom, Nicole, are siblings.

“He’s been through every stage of life with me — picking up a basketball, to going to prep school to making the NBA, we’ve gone through every situation together,” Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned.

For his or her junior and senior highschool seasons, the Canadian cousins moved stateside for prep college. They enrolled at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Hamilton, coincidentally, is the place Gilgeous-Alexander grew up — about 45 miles south of Toronto alongside Lake Ontario.

In Chattanooga, Shai and Nickeil lived with their head basketball coach, Zach Ferrell, who now coaches at Japanese Florida State Faculty.

Ferrell’s oldest son was 1 when the cousins moved in along with his household. “Shai,” was considered one of his son’s first phrases. Shai and Nickeil helped babysit. They’d regular teenage chores, like cleansing their rooms and caring for the canine. Of their first yr in Chattanooga, Ferrell made them flip of their telephones for the night time at 10:30 p.m.

“They shared beds that were feet apart and they literally did every moment of life together for two years while they were in Tennessee,” Ferrell instructed The Oklahoman. “As close as any two people could be.”

Shai and Nickeil have been an prolonged a part of the Ferrell household for these years.

“Those two, the relationship is much deeper than coach/player,” Ferrell mentioned. “I’m very proud of who they’ve become as men and husbands and fathers, and then it’s awesome to see what they’ve been able to do on the court, also.

“Obviously, you have to have some God-given things to make it to that level, but what both Nickeil and Shai had was a very focused mind on the goals they were wanting to get to. Every basketball kid grows up wanting to play in the NBA and all that, but they had the discipline on and off the court to give themselves the opportunity to do that.”

From Hamilton Heights, Gilgeous-Alexander went to Kentucky and Alexander-Walker to Virginia Tech. SGA was the Thirty third-ranked participant within the 2017 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports composite. Alexander-Walker was forty fourth.

Gilgeous-Alexander went one-and-done as a Wildcat. Alexander-Walker performed two seasons for the Hokies.

SGA was drafted with the eleventh choose within the 2018 draft. NAW was taken seventeenth a yr later.

You recognize Gilgeous-Alexander’s path. One yr with the Clippers earlier than the Thunder pried him from LA within the Paul George commerce. He’s set to win MVP this season — in what might be his third top-five MVP end in as a few years.

Alexander-Walker has by no means been a full-time starter. Or a full-time resident of any NBA metropolis. He’s already traveled each quadrant of the Western Convention — from New Orleans to Utah to Minnesota, the place he’s spent components of the final three seasons.

Final summer time, the cousins performed collectively on Group Canada within the Olympics.

“For both of us to be where we are is special,” Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned. “To compete against each other is even more special.”

Alexander-Walker has been an iron man for the Wolves, enjoying in 82 video games in back-to-back seasons. In 25 minutes per sport this season, Alexander-Walker averaged 9.4 factors, 3.2 rebounds and a pair of.7 assists per sport. He shot 38% from 3-point vary on 4.5 makes an attempt per sport.

In contrast to the Nuggets, the Timberwolves have three reserves they belief — a floor-spacing middle in Naz Reid together with Donte DiVincenzo and Alexander-Walker, two dynamic guards.

“Those guys in particular give a scoring punch off the bench,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault mentioned Monday after apply. “Reid is a very unique matchup, off the bench especially. DiVincenzo comes in hot, he’s ready to play every single night. Alexander-Walker is a great two-end player for them who plays with really good offensive confidence as well. They have eight guys that are really, really impactful players … There’s a reason they are where they are for the second straight year.”

Alexander-Walker is aware of all of Gilgeous-Alexander’s methods by now, however that doesn’t imply he can comprise his cousin.

They’re blood, however they’re additionally out for blood.

“I am trying to take his head off, for sure,” Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned with a smile.

Joe Mussatto is a sports activities columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a narrative thought for Joe? E mail him at [email protected]. Help Joe’s work and that of different Oklahoman journalists by buying a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.