Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s penchant for getting to the free-throw line has been praised. It’s also been cited as what’s wrong with basketball, as he’s been labeled a player who embellishes contact, resulting in opportunities at the free-throw line.
In three Western Conference finals games against the San Antonio Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder guard and reigning NBA MVP has attempted 27 free throws; he’s only missed once and made all 12 of his attempts in Friday’s Game 3 victory. In four games against the Phoenix Suns, Gilgeous-Alexander attempted 49 free throws (and made 44), including a 15-of-17 performance in Game 1, and in four games against the Los Angeles Lakers, he attempted 34 from the stripe (made 27), including a 12-for-15 effort in the closeout.
Daily sports fantasy and betting site Underdog is having fun with Gilgeous-Alexander’s reputation and created a board game called Unethical Hoops, based on the board game Operation. Underdog even called on Suns forward Dillon Brooks to play the game, in which each time a player touches Gilgeous-Alexander on the board, the buzzer sounds.
Among the nine labels that can trigger a buzzer are the “Head Snap,” the “Lean In,” the “Don’t Reach” and the “Leg Kick.”
Underdog announced Friday it would give 100 Unethical Hoops games to fans who enter the contest to win them. Underdog also announced it would give $100 to a random fan each time Gilgeous-Alexander fell on a shot attempt in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals.
“It’s elevating the conversations that fans have that make things worth talking about,” said Michael Posner, head of executive development at Underdog. “We have sort of like a daily stand-up where we just reflect on the zeitgeist and what’s happening, and we ideate fun, clever ways to bring those stories to life and elevate them.”
Posner, who was hands-on with the project, said it was a good time to premiere the game with Oklahoma City winning Game 2. Gilgeous-Alexander only attempted six free throws in Game 2, but critics who check the box scores often look at his free-throw totals first to see how much of an advantage he gained from the charity stripe.
The board game is Underdog’s latest promotion in its efforts to take a hot topic among sports fans and have lighthearted fun with it. In March, Underdog was in the news for its mural depicting Kobe Bryant passing a torch to Bam Adebayo after Adebayo scored 83 points against the Washington Wizards, surpassing Bryant’s 81 for the second-most points in a game in NBA history.
Brooks, a teammate of Gilgeous-Alexander on the Canadian national team, was fitting for this promotion. Calling himself “the villain” in the game advertisement, Brooks has never been afraid to needle opponents, and his appearance courtside for Game 4 of the Thunder’s sweep against the Lakers and LeBron James — who Brooks has tried to antagonize for years — has made him a viral meme for trolling a rival.
“We’ve been doing some smaller things just to see how to build this muscle, and this was sort of like a bigger stunt, if you will,” Posner said. “A lot went into it. We had to go and figure out how to manufacture a board game. We created a website. We made a commercial. We tied it into promos. And we were able to get in touch with Dillon Brooks, who is the consummate villain and I think is quite good at making things more fun.”
Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will play the Spurs in Game 4 of the series Sunday night.
