Recently, the Oklahoma City Thunder continued their winning ways with a comfortable home victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was a rough afternoon for star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but he still found a way to extend his streak of 20-plus point games with a late score and free throw.
One topic of conversation surrounding the Thunder has revolved around SGA's ability to “foul bait,” a term that Reggie Miller recently took issue with during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show.
“I don't understand what ‘foulbaiting' is. We didn't say this about [Michael Jordan], and MJ went to the line 10+ times… Learn and adapt,” said Miller, per The Dan Patrick Show on X, formerly Twitter.
Indeed, many historically great players like Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and others made a living at the free throw line, consistently finding ways to manipulate the rule book in order to draw fouls.
While fans may take issue with the rules being too punishing of defensive players, Gilgeous-Alexander and other master foul drawers shouldn't be the ones receiving criticism for taking advantage of the rule book and using their skills to draw fouls. It's fair to say that the reason Gilgeous-Alexander shoots more free throws than most other players isn't that they are more “ethical” players than he is.
Meanwhile, the Thunder have resumed dominating the NBA landscape after a brief rough patch in SGA's absence, but they will need to keep up the winning in order to hold off the scorching San Antonio Spurs, who have won 18 out of their last 20 games.
The Thunder will next take the floor on Tuesday evening on the road against the Orlando Magic.
