{"id":53244,"date":"2025-08-08T00:19:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T00:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/53244\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T00:19:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T00:19:13","slug":"bo-levi-mitchell-beware-nba-mvp-shai-gilgeous-alexander-would-play-cfl-quarterback-if-not-for-the-contact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/53244\/","title":{"rendered":"Bo Levi Mitchell beware: NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would play CFL quarterback if not for the contact"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: Hamilton Tiger-Cats<\/p>\n

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn\u2019t afraid to drive to the rim on an NBA court, but he\u2019d be looking to avoid contact if he ever played on a CFL field.<\/p>\n

The proud Hamiltonian and reigning NBA MVP was honoured with the key to the city and a street named in his honour during a rally ahead of the Tiger-Cats\u2019 Thursday night clash with the B.C. Lions. Sporting a black and gold number 2 jersey, the six-foot-six point guard indicated that he\u2019d require the protection of the pocket if ever asked to switch to the gridiron.<\/p>\n

\u201c(I\u2019d play) quarterback. I don\u2019t like getting hit, at least I didn\u2019t when I played,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander laughed. \u201cActually, kicker. He doesn\u2019t get hit a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bo Levi Mitchell might be having an MOP-calibre start to the 2025 season, and Marc Liegghio recently set a franchise record for most consecutive field goals, but they\u2019d quickly become the second-most popular players at their positions if Gilgeous-Alexander ever joined the Ticats.<\/p>\n

A crowd of thousands came out to honour their favourite native son and catch a glimpse of the Larry O\u2019Brien Trophy at Hamilton Stadium, contributing to the Tabbies\u2019 first sell-out of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m lucky. Early on, I had my shades on so you couldn\u2019t see me tearing up a little bit. It was really special,\u201d the 27-year-old stated. \u201cI\u2019ve been on that field in various amounts of ways growing up, and for me to be on it in that fashion was a special, full-circle moment. All of it kind of feels like that when I come back home in this city. Not a lot of people know about this city, but the support that I feel, no matter where I am in the world, is special, and I\u2019m appreciative of them at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilgeous-Alexander recently completed his sixth NBA season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, during which he averaged 32.7 points per game, 6.4 assists per game, 5.0 rebounds per game, 1.7 steals per game, and 1.0 blocks per game to win Most Valuable Player. He also led the Thunder to its first-ever NBA championship as he was named the NBA Finals MVP.<\/p>\n

The homegrown superstar has attended Ticats games in the past and has a personal connection to the team, as receiver Tyler Ternowski was once his high school teammate at Sir Allan MacNab Secondary. It is just one facet of his deep connection to the city where he grew up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI come home every summer and stay home every summer. I miss the people, the environment, the streets I grew up on, the buildings I grew up playing in. I pass by those and see all those, and all the memories come back. That\u2019s been exactly what I expected,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander explained. \u201cThe people back home, they know me and love me the most, and I kind of get to just chill out when I\u2019m home. I come home every chance I get, as soon as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The love is mutual, and Thursday\u2019s rally proved there will always be a connection between Hamilton\u2019s favourite team and their most famous product.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point in my life, I\u2019m gonna wish I had this moment back to soak up and remember and sit in,\u201d he said of the experience. \u201cI try to take advantage of them as best as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Hamilton Tiger-Cats Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn\u2019t afraid to drive to the rim on an NBA court, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-53244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53244","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=53244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}