The celebrations continue for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s NBA championship. One of the better traditions you see every summer is following along players from the title winner to see what they did with their turn carrying around the prestigious Larry O’Brien trophy.
As the calendar flipped to August, this is the perfect opportunity to celebrate a lifelong accomplishment. Most of the time, you see players from the NBA champion who return to their hometown and celebrate their impending ring. Jaylin Williams and Isaiah Joe threw an Arkansas parade. Isaiah Hartenstein returned to Germany with the trophy. Now add Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to the list.
Gilgeous-Alexander was in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on Thursday. His hometown held a Shai Rally Day to celebrate his historic individual season, which included an MVP, Conference Finals MVP, NBA Finals MVP and scoring title.
At the event, Gilgeous-Alexander was rewarded with a Key to the City and a street named after him. He discussed growing up in Hamilton and what it meant to his ascension from a decent lottery pick to an MVP winner. The 27-year-old is always proud of his roots.
It’s been quite the year for Gilgeous-Alexander. Just from this offseason alone, he signed a supermax contract extension, was named the NBA 2K26 cover athlete, won a couple of ESPY awards and has now been given a couple of momentos from his hometown for what he accomplished this past season.