Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander celebrates Oklahoma City’s championship in his hometown.
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HAMILTON, Ont. — Even the attributes David Kouadio listed were kind of boring.
The city of Hamilton chose Kouadio, a Grade 10 student, to represent all kids in the area to honour Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who received the key to his hometown on Thursday. Kouadio, originally from Ivory Coast but playing basketball at Polaris Prep in nearby Burlington, Ont., spoke about how watching the Oklahoma City Thunder guard has informed his own game.
“I watch his footwork,” an understandably nervous Kouadio said. “I watch how he bumps players.”
Not sexy stuff, unless you are really into debates about what constitutes a foul.
This is maybe the only lasting criticism of Gilgeous-Alexander — he is stoic, verging on, yes, boring. His on-court game is based on change of pace, side-to-side agility, midrange jumpers and drawing fouls.
There have been no flirtations with leaving one of the smallest markets in the league. No contentious contract negotiations. No trademark celebration. No angst about whether he would compete for the Canadian national team, which passes for drama here.
His typical night of 33 points, six assists and five rebounds is more remarkable for its consistency than its slanted numbers. There are no questions about his dedication to the game.
On Thursday, if only for a moment, Gilgeous-Alexander cracked. Rowan Barrett, the general manager of the Canadian men’s team, was outlining what he admired about the star, and pointed out how he has developed into a “first-ballot Hall of Famer.” Gilgeous-Alexander’s grin became a gaping smile.
“I’m lucky,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the event, which also confirmed that part of the city’s Mohawk Road would be named after him. “Early on, I had my shades on so you couldn’t see me tearing up a little bit. It was really special. I’ve been (in that position) in various … ways growing up. And for me to be on it in that fashion was special, a full-circle moment.”
The city decided to honour the NBA’s scoring champion, regular season Kia NBA Most Valuable Player and Finals MVP a few hours before the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats hosted a game. Outside of Hamilton Stadium, fans dotted in the Thunder’s orange and blue and Canada’s red and white, with the same hyphenated name on the back of the jerseys, crowded a couple of gates.
By the time Gilgeous-Alexander got to the stage, a full end zone — remember, those are 20 yards deep and 65 yards wide in Canada instead of the NFL’s 10-by-53-1/3 measurements — was full of fans. One of the grandstands was used for overflow, with fans hanging their jerseys over railings, looking for autographs when the speeches were done.
Gilgeous-Alexander himself was in a No. 2 Tiger-Cats-style jersey in their familiar yellow-and-black motif. Basketball jerseys with Gilgeous-Alexander’s name and number, in that same colour scheme, were available for purchase.
Gilgeous-Alexander spoke about how, as he travelled the world, his teammates and friends would say he was from Toronto, not wanting the headache of explaining the geography of Lake Ontario, with his hometown some 70 kilometres southwest. Essentially, Hamilton is to Toronto as Newark is to New York City.
“It’s almost like I liked explaining,” Gilgeous-Alexander said, saying he always got specific when given the chance when he was younger. Indeed, several fans were wearing T-shirts that quoted Gilgeous-Alexander as saying, “I’m from Hamilton.”
“It’s almost like I liked telling them what Steel City meant to me. It instilled pride and joy (in) me (and allowed me) to be able to be different. Hamilton is different from every other city in Ontario. Hamiltonians carry a different sense of grit, determination, pride and energy than the rest of the province. And honestly, I couldn’t shy away from that.”
That was a babyface promo worthy of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, bizarrely the only other person who Hamilton has given the key to the city, per Hamilton Spectator columnist Scott Radley. (Notably, Austin was not known as the “Southern Ontario rattlesnake.”)
So much of Canada’s basketball rise has focused on Toronto, and deservedly so. Most of the players who have funneled into the NBA over the past 15 years have been from Toronto or one of its suburbs. That is true on the woman’s side, too. Toronto has the Raptors, and will have the WNBA’s Tempo starting in 2026.
But it’s clear Gilgeous-Alexander resonates with Hamilton, and perhaps it is that steady brand of superstardom. Videos leading into the event showed clips of him playing at two high schools in Hamilton — St. Thomas More Catholic and Sir Allan MacNab Secondary. As the video synced several voices up to say, “The NBA MVP is from … Hamilton, Ontario,” the crowd roared.
This was a hype rally for a guy who generally refuses to get hyped. For an afternoon, he gave in, lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy as fireworks usually reserved for Ti-Cats touchdowns went off behind him.
“I don’t play for any of those things. I play … because I love the sport,” Gilgeous-Alexander said when asked about his understated nature. “I’ve had fun with it my whole life. And I play it to see how much I can get out of it and who I can be at the end of the day. And hopefully today I’m not the best version of myself. So I’m not too over the moon. I’m not too excited.”
For an afternoon, he made an exception.
“I’ve always been so proud to be from the city,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And it means the world to know that I am someone that this city is proud of.”
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Eric Koreen is a senior writer covering the Raptors and the NBA. Previously, he has written for the National Post, Canadian Press, Sportsnet and Complex.
