“Pulled A Draymond”: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Low Blow To Derrick Jones Jr. Sends Fans 8 Years Back

For the first time in eight years, the Thunder are back playing in the second round of the playoffs, this time against the Mavericks. With two MVP contenders in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic butting heads, all eyes are on tonight’s Game 1 at Paycom Center. But it did not take much time for things to get controversial as SGA delivered a nasty blow to Derrick Jones Jr., reminding the NBA World that Draymond Green would’ve been “thrown out”, with an evergreen example from the 2016 Western Conference Finals.

Just two minutes into the second half, Shai posted up against Jones Jr. and decided to hit a step-back jump shot to create space. However, when Shai rose for the shot, his shooting motion caused his foot to deliver a low blow to the groin of the Mavs Forward. Surprisingly, it was Jones who got called for a shooting foul, while crouching in pain. Then, upon review for a hostile act, Shai got penalized with a technical foul for unnecessary contact. With that, the Mavs received 1 free throw because of the tech and the Thunder received 2 because of the shooting foul by Jones.

Although SGA’s kick was not deemed hostile, it did bring back a haunting memory for OKC fans from eight years ago. In a much more serious incident during Game 3 of the 2016 WCF, Draymond kicked then-OKC Center Steven Adams in his groin while going up for a shooting motion, even though he had lost the ball. Similar to what happened tonight, Green was not ejected from the game and only received a Flagrant-1 foul despite the kick looking far more intentional than it did tonight. Moreover, Green was not suspended in the next game like the OKC fans hoped.

Was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s controversial action Draymond-esque?

While the on-court officials had a more lenient approach toward Shai, his blow to Jones attracted a lot of criticism from the NBA World on social media. Not holding back, one fan claimed, “Uh oh SGA pulled a Draymond.”

Then, the same fan claimed that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander getting a technical foul made him “really upset” about Draymond not getting suspended in 2016. A thing to remember is that the Warriors came back from a 3-1 deficit in that series to eliminate OKC. Had Draymond been suspended for his actions, the story could have been different.

Many more fans chimed in on SGA’s kick and called him out for pulling off a Draymond move!

An individual even claimed that if it was Draymond in SGA’s place, who’s been suspended and fined on several occasions for his unusual behavior, he would have been “thrown out”.

Frustrated by SGA’s actions, this netizen called him a “skinnier and more obnoxious” version of Draymond. Maybe, his reaction was because just like Draymond, SGA has also had his fair share of controversial plays in his career. From fouling a player intentionally in a blowout game just to get to thirty points to now hitting Jones in the groin area, SGA’s antics are not sitting well with this fan.

Well, the comparisons are clearly visible. With the NBA World giving their verdict about SGA’s kick to Derrick Jones Jr. and comparing him to Draymond Green, even though the latter’s eventful season came to a premature end with the Warriors, do you think the OKC star should have been given a harsher punishment for his actions?