Every superstar, regardless of their sport, often receives criticism, and NBA players are no exceptions. One such major accusation attached to Oklahoma City Thunder’s point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is: flopping. He’s become infamous for drawing fouls with minimal contact, earning the nickname of “free-throw merchant.” However, instead of getting rid, it seems like SGA is giving people more to criticize.

Last night, during Thunder’s matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers, Shai did something that raised a lot of eyebrows. During the third quarter of the game, the point guard charged into the paint, trying to set up a layup, but before he could get his shot, he came up against Portland’s Kris Murray. But before he could make a move, SGA pushed against him and fell to the ground.

As soon as that happened, the referees blew the whistle, calling a foul on Murray. While it didn’t look much in normal time, it was worse in slow motion, where one could clearly see that there wasn’t any contact to begin with. In fact, even the announcers thought so.

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“Hey, what is that? It looked like he created contact with the off hand, and then he was trying to fling something up,” one of them said. “No, no. Come on, man. He’s gonna go to the line,” the other said with a lot of disappointment.

This embarrassing flopping incident overshadowed what was supposed to be a historic night for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. That’s because on Sunday, he finished the game with 26 points, which was more than enough to extend his consecutive 20-point games streak to 93. As a result of this, he overtook the great Wilt Chamberlain for the second-longest 20-point game streak.

Now, he’ll be chasing the 126-mark, the owner of which is yet again Wilt Chamberlain himself. However, before he continues his journey in that direction, it seems like the fans want him to fix his diving issues, as calls are starting to mount on his actions. And this time around, the fans don’t seem to be playing around.

NBA fans have had enough of the “free-throw merchant.”

What was supposed to be a sweet memory for Oklahoma City Thunder’s superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander quickly turned sour. All because of his unnecessary actions, something that the NBA community has gotten fed up with. To an extent that a fan thinks that if the 27-year-old did not perform these antics on the court, he would’ve been one of, if not the most loved player in the league.

“I really think he’d be a beloved player by everyone if he didn’t do this,” he wrote on X. Meanwhile, another user carried the sentiment forward and pointed out the worst part about Shai’s flopping. “Worst part is Shai doesn’t even need to do this to score 30+ a game…just a bad look for him. I know MJ and all the great scorers got to the line, but this is just bad,” they suggested.

He simply stated that the OKC guard doesn’t even need to do this and would still easily score consistently. Well, that could actually be quite true. After all, he’s currently averaging about 32.5 points per game, out of which only 18.5 percent come from the free-throw line. So, even if you were away to take away those points, he’d still be a pretty solid player.

“Mad cause he got good acting skills and can manipulate the game. Not his fault the refs let this stuff happen lol,” another fan commented in the meantime. He stated that it’s actually the officials’ fault that they’ve allowed this for so long. He wasn’t the only one who thought so, as more people joined him, sharing the same sentiment about this entire situation.

“He’ll only stop if the refs start ignoring it. He’ll keep doing this if they keep blowing their whistle. The refs are the ones to blame, in my opinion,” another person stated. It seems like the fans want the NBA officials to look into this and be more consistent with the calls. Now, will they be? That’s a totally different story, but it’s worth a try still.

Nonetheless, lastly, one fan completely flipped the script as he suggested that, “If anything, this should be an offensive foul.” He somehow found the humor within the incident and did not miss. But in all fairness, this is something that the NBA should take seriously and look into, as it affects the integrity of the game, and no one wants to see these unfair calls being made.