Shai Gilgeous-Alexander says he ran secret scrimmages with NBA players in Toronto

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might be one of the best players in the NBA, but the Oklahoma City Thunder guard seems to have never forgotten where he came from.

Gilgeous-Alexander, who was born in Toronto but spent most of his formative years in nearby Hamilton, was asked last night following the Thunder’s Game 2 win over the New Orleans Pelicans about teammate Chet Holmgren.

Holmgren, a candidate for NBA Rookie of the Year after missing the entire 2022-23 season due to injury, averaged 20.5 points, nine rebounds and 3.5 blocks in his first two playoff games of his career.

And in his response, Gilgeous-Alexander actually led with a bit of detail about bringing Holmgren up to Canada and scrimmaging against some local basketball talent following his selection at second overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, taking on a Canadian Elite Basketball League team in a scrimmage.

“The year Chet got drafted, he came to Toronto that summer, and we played pickup against one of the [CEBL] teams… it was like a bigger guy, and he was battling physically even though he was giving up a couple of pounds. I knew that Chet had some fire in him.”

"The year he got drafted… we played some pickup… I knew Chet had that fire in him"

SGA tells story of when he knew Chet could hold his own 💪 pic.twitter.com/wkk7NdFjdx

— NBA (@NBA) April 25, 2024

It’s quite the revelation, given that there doesn’t seem to be any previous documentation on social media of Holmgren’s trip to Toronto.

Given the timing of the story, Holmgren and Gilgeous-Alexander could’ve been facing off against either the Scarborough Shooting Stars or the Hamilton Honey Badgers, who now play out of Brampton (with the small chance they linked up with the nearby Guelph Nighthawks, who have since moved to Calgary).

Edit: Former Honey Badgers head coach Ryan Schmidt confirms that it was his team that scrimmaged off against the pair of NBA players.

Helped us prepare for @CEBLeague Championship weekend in 2022. Could tell then that the future for Chet (and OKC) was very bright! https://t.co/eQhM09BdBk

— Ryan Schmidt (@Coach_RSchmidt) April 25, 2024

The Thunder ended up making three draft picks that year, also selecting the similarly named Jalen Williams and Jaylin Williams out of Santa Clara and Arkansas, respectively.

With all three of those players now key rotation pieces for the Thunder, it seems like their team leader’s trips up to Toronto may have helped with a bit of team bonding.

And with Gilgeous-Alexander expected back in Toronto as part of the ramp-up for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, we can only wonder what kind of scrimmages he’ll be running in the coming months.

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