Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may have given an opponent the cold shoulder after Saturday’s game.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the way for the Oklahoma City Thunder with a game-high 22 points in a 106-94 win over the Charlotte Hornets. After the final buzzer, the television broadcast caught Hornets forward Miles Bridges seemingly asking Gilgeous-Alexander to do a jersey swap with him, a customary postgame practice for NBA players.
Bridges started to take off his jersey, but Gilgeous-Alexander pointed in the other direction and explained something to Bridges, who then nodded his head and walked away. You can see the video of the moment here.
The explanation could have been as simple as Gilgeous-Alexander having already promised to give his jersey to a fan before the game. But the moment drew extra scrutiny because Bridges is a very unpopular figure these days.
The former lottery pick Bridges, who was drafted one pick after Gilgeous-Alexander in 2018, has a troubling history of legal issues. That includes a 2022 arrest on felony domestic violence charges as well as a separate 2023 arrest for violating a protective order stemming from his original case.
Bridges avoided prison time by pleading no contest in the 2022 case (later serving a 30-game suspension from the NBA too) and eventually had all of the charges dropped in his 2023 case. But those legal troubles are still what most fans associate him with these days (though it is obviously unclear if that played any role here in Gilgeous-Alexander’s jersey swap snub).
H/T NBA Reddit
