{"id":13566,"date":"2025-07-21T18:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T18:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/13566\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T18:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T18:56:09","slug":"nba-star-shai-gilgeous-alexander-coming-to-hamilton-for-hometown-rally-in-his-honour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/13566\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander coming to Hamilton for hometown rally in his honour"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA basketball sensation Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is set to receive the key to\u00a0his\u00a0hometown of Hamilton,\u00a0at a celebration honouring his achievements next month.<\/p>\n

The much-anticipated<\/a> event will take place at Hamilton Stadium\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 formally known as Tim Hortons Field \u2014 on Aug. 7, the City of Hamilton said in a news release Monday.<\/p>\n

“[Hamilton] laid the foundation not only for who I am as a basketball player, but for the man I’ve become. I wouldn’t be who I am today without this city, and I’m deeply grateful for the continued love and support,” Gilgeous-Alexander said in the\u00a0release.<\/p>\n

He led the Oklahoma City Thunder to their first NBA title this year and picked up the league’s most valuable player distinction<\/a>. With that, Gilgeous-Alexander became the fourth player in league history to win the scoring title, league MVP, NBA championship and Finals MVP in the same season.<\/p>\n

Last key-to-the-city recipient was Stone Cold Steve Austin<\/p>\n

This will be the first time since 1998 that a Hamilton mayor has given someone the key to the city, which is “one of Hamilton’s highest honours,” the city news release said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The last recipient was professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin, who then-mayor Bob Morrow presented with a key in September 1998. Morrow also said he was renaming Main and Bay streets Stone Cold Way for the day, according to the\u00a0Hamilton Spectator\u00a0archives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath said bestowing the key is a “symbolic gesture of the deep pride and admiration Hamilton holds for one of its own.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The free Shai Day rally is open to the public and scheduled for an hour starting at 3:30 p.m. ET. It will be followed by a separately ticketed football game at 7:30 p.m., in which the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will play the BC Lions. During the game, Gilgeous-Alexander will be honoured with a special tribute,\u00a0the city said.<\/p>\n

\"aOn May 22, Sir Allan MacNab basketball players walk past a mural of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander that was painted on the outside of the Hamilton Mountain school. (Saira Peesker\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Attendees are asked to register for the free rally on the Ticats website<\/a> in advance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This is an opportunity for the community to come together to celebrate Shai’s incredible achievements and Hamilton pride. The Shai Rally Day serves as a powerful reminder of the potential within our community, inspiring the next generation of athletes, dreamers and leaders,” the city said.<\/p>\n

In May, Gilgeous-Alexander was honoured by\u00a0Sir Allan MacNab Secondary School, which he attended for grades 10 and 11. The school installed a temporary mural on an outside wall, which has since deteriorated, according to school principal Renu Kohli.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBA basketball sensation Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is set to receive the key to\u00a0his\u00a0hometown of Hamilton,\u00a0at a celebration honouring his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-13566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}