Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Reveals His Favorite Basketball Player of All Time Without Hesitation originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is gearing up for Game 2 of the 2025 NBA Finals after a season to remember.

Doing a side-by-side comparison, you can see the similarities between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Kobe Bryant. The pump-fakes. The footwork. The mid-range infatuation. The MVP winner once dared to say Bryant was 'Michael Jordan on steroids.

Prominent among that group is league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who spoke about Kobe with the media between Game 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals. If you were like me and surprised to see how highly SGA thinks of Kobe, then do I have some news for you because Shai has been on the record before saying something way wilder.