Right now, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder is one of the greatest players in the NBA, but it won’t be that way forever.
There will come a time when Gilgeous-Alexander walks away from the game, either because his body can’t take it anymore or because he wants to live a life with his family.
A new statement from the reigning MVP makes it clear that he is realistic about retiring someday.
“I won’t want to miss that much of my kid’s life. I won’t want to be away and miss his first basketball game every year, his first soccer game, football game, piano lesson, chess lesson, whatever it is. And there’s a certain point in your career where you reach your peak. I don’t fault guys for still playing. They love the game. But I just feel like I play this game, ultimately, to see what the best version of me can be. Once I figure that out and I start going down, then it’s like, Okay, well, what am I playing for now? As soon as that happens, I’ll be on the first ship out,” Gilgeous-Alexander said, via Clemente Almanza.
SGA on knowing when it’s time to retire from the NBA in his GQ piece:
“I won’t want to miss that much of my kid’s life. I won’t want to be away and miss his first basketball game every year, his first soccer game, football game, piano lesson, chess lesson, whatever it is. And…
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 13, 2025
Gilgeous-Alexander loves playing basketball, and the sport has been very good to him.
But he knows that someday he will want to spend his time doing other things, such as watching his children grow.
On top of that, he also understands that some players aren’t realistic and force themselves to keep performing even when they aren’t close to being 100 percent.
Gilgeous-Alexander would rather step away from the NBA once when knows that he isn’t capable of playing like he wants to.
Thankfully for Thunder fans, retirement won’t come any time soon.
He just had a season with an average of 32.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.4 assists, so he isn’t even close to being past his prime.
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