Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is feeling villainous after serving to the Thunder full a sweep of the Suns within the first spherical of the NBA playoffs Monday.
The reigning MVP poked enjoyable at Suns guard Dillon Brooks with an Instagram put up Tuesday. Gilgeous-Alexander referenced a second in Sport 2 when he hit a shot over Brooks, then pointed at his Canadian compatriot and laughed whereas the 2 ran again down the court docket.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 37 factors within the 120-107 victory in opposition to Brooks and Phoenix that night time. After the sport, Brooks commented on Gilgeous-Alexander “flopping and failing” to get calls, whereas referring to him as “frail.”
Nevertheless, the 2025 NBA champion acquired the final chuckle. He resurfaced that picture of him and Brooks in an Instagram photograph carousel. The final title on the guard’s jersey was changed to “Cancun On” with Brooks’ No. 3 spelling out: “Cancun On 3.”
The put up’s caption poked enjoyable at Brooks’ tendency to be the villain as Gilgeous-Alexander wrote: “everyone needs to be villainous till the brooms come out & the mud settles & you notice who the villain is.” Brooks commented on the put up: “Feels like a ghost author – The Villain.”
The Cancun joke merely refers to a trip spot for gamers after the season. Nevertheless, the “Cancun on 3” saying dates again to Lakers guard Nick Van Exel within the 1998 playoffs. With Los Angeles down 3-0 and operating out to start warmups for Sport 4, relatively than saying, “One, two, three … Lakers!” to interrupt the huddle, Van Exel yelled, “One, two, three … Cancun!”
The Canadian nationwide staff teammates had a heat embrace after the Thunder closed out the sequence Monday night time. Gilgeous-Alexander complimented Brooks’ progress postgame, calling it “spectacular” how he has redefined himself as a participant.
He additionally made certain so as to add that the in-game antics from his shut good friend do not impression him.
“Clearly, figuring out Dillon, he is an excellent competitor, nice man. It doesn’t matter what folks say about him, he is a extremely good man. … So yeah, all that villain stuff, it would not faze me,” Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned. “I do know precisely who Dillon is.”
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 33.8 factors and eight.0 assists in opposition to the Suns, whereas Brooks put up 26.0 factors and 6.0 rebounds per sport — doubtlessly previous a visit to Cancun.
