Nickeil Alexander-Walker Shares Family Texts With Cousin Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Before Timberwolves-Thunder Series

Anthony Edwards and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may be the headlines for their respective teams, but the competition runs even deeper.

Two players from opposing sides are related to each other and will be facing off in the series.

As it's well-known within the league, Timberwolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Gilgeous-Alexander are first cousins.

Shai's father is a sibling of Nickeil's mother, and the two families are close.

The two cousins in Shai and Nickeil, grew up together in Toronto, Canada, and even played together in high school at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy.

As both players took interview questions with the press leading to their WCF matchup, Alexander-Walker was asked about the family rivalry on Tuesday.

"My mom called me and told me that she texted Shai's dad saying, 'Oh, it's war now.'"

"In this time, the only thing I care about is making sure that the Wolves get four wins," the Timberwolves guard said.

Shai's Thunder are 15-0 against the teams that cousin Nickeil has been on, but the two have never gone against each other in the NBA Playoffs.

As the two had unique journeys of their own leading up to this point, a lot of things had to go right for each of their careers to square off at such a high stage in the NBA.

The Timberwolves and Thunder begin their WCF matchup on Tuesday night.