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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made some puzzling remarks about one of his Thunder teammates following the team’s win over the Spurs. <\/p>\n
The Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> evened the series against the San Antonio Spurs<\/a>, but it was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s puzzling comments following the victory that grabbed fans\u2019 attention. Oklahoma City opted to use big man Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a> to defend Victor Wembanyama<\/a> for much of Game 2. <\/p>\n Hartenstein appeared to hold his own throughout Game 2, but apparently not everyone agreed. After the Thunder\u2019s win, NBC Sports\u2019 Zora Stephenson attempted to give Gilgeous-Alexander a layup question to praise his teammate. <\/p>\n Stephenson asked the NBA<\/a> MVP about Hartenstein\u2019s play against Wembanyama, hinting that the big man did well defending the Spurs center. Gilgeous-Alexander was not having any of it as the guard emphasized that he was unsure if Hartenstein played well. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure if it was good, to be honest, yeah,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander responded<\/a> in the May 20, 2026, postgame interview. <\/p>\n Stephenson appeared confused and asked if SGA could explain what he meant by his assessment. After a brief pause, this prompted Gilgeous-Alexander to backtrack from his original comments. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was all right,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander noted. \u201cIt was good. It was good.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what you need to know about the latest news on the Spurs-Thunder series. <\/p>\n SGA Attempted to Walk Back His Comments on Isaiah Hartenstein After Thunder\u2019s Win vs. Spurs<\/p>\n There is always a chance that Gilgeous-Alexander did not understand the question. SGA could have also been hinting that he needs to watch the film in order to get a clearer assessment of Hartenstein\u2019s performance. <\/p>\n Regardless, the star\u2019s postgame comments did not exactly land. SGA attempted to walk back his comments during a subsequent press conference noting that he misheard the original question. <\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t really hear,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander said of his comments about Hartenstein, per Daily Thunder\u2019s Brandon Ranbar.<\/a> \u201cThen when I realized what she said, I gave her the right answer.\u201d<\/p>\n Thunder Center Isaiah Hartenstein\u2019s Physicality vs. Spurs Grabbed Attention<\/p>\n Hartenstein posted 10 points, 13 rebounds and three assists in the win. It was Hartenstein\u2019s defensive play that created a stir. <\/p>\n Hartenstein was seen on several plays grabbing Spurs players. Ultimately, Hartenstein and the Thunder\u2019s defense were able to avoid another repeat performance from Wembanyama. The Spurs star still played well, but the center did not have another career night offensively. <\/p>\n Thunder Center Isaiah Hartenstein Is on a 3-Year, $87 Million Contract With OKC<\/p>\n Wembanyama notched 21 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and four rebounds in a losing effort. It was not a bad game, but it proved hard to follow-up on one of the best performances of his young career in Game 1. <\/p>\n Hartenstein started 47 games for Oklahoma City during the regular season averaging 9.2 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. The Thunder center is on a three-year, $87 million contract<\/a> that is slated to go through the 2026-27 season. <\/p>\n Oklahoma City has a club option for Hartenstein\u2019s final season giving the team a decision to make this offseason. Now, the series heads to San Antionio for the next two contests with Game 3 tipping off on Friday, May 22. <\/p>\n Thunder HC Mark Daignesult on Isaiah Hartenstein: \u2018He Checks Every Box\u2019<\/p>\n Not everyone agrees with Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s skepticism of Hartenstein. Thunder head coach Mark Daignesult gushed over Hartenstein\u2019s performance following the team\u2019s win. <\/p>\n \u201cIf you listed all the skills you wanted from a modern center, true center, he checks every box,\u201d Daignesult said of Hartenstein following Game 2, per Clutch Points<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s why I love him. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd the other thing I love about him is I played him 12 minutes and he doesn\u2019t bat an eye. Turns around tonight and played a great game\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJonathan Adams<\/a> is a veteran sports contributor covering the NFL, NBA and golf for Heavy.com. His work has been prominently featured on NFL.com, Yahoo Sports, Pro Football Talk, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and Sports Illustrated. More about Jonathan Adams<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made some puzzling remarks about one of his Thunder teammates following the team’s win over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-452388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}