Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) shoots the ball over Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) during the first half in game three of the Western Conference Finals for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Target Center. Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander taunted with chant in blowout Game 3 loss

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated May 25, 2025 12:03 AM ET

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be hoping to flush Saturday’s game from his memory.

Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder had their worst showing of the season in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. Presented with the opportunity to go up in the series 3-0, Oklahoma City instead laid an egg and got stomped by a final score of 143-101.

The Thunder went down by 20 points at the end of the first quarter and only managed 41 points before the half. As a result, their series lead has been trimmed to 2-1 heading into Monday’s Game 4 (which will also be in Minnesota).

During the second quarter (with the Timberwolves already leading 56-29), Gilgeous-Alexander went to the free throw line and was taunted with a three-word chant by the Target Center crowd. They yelled, “Free throw merchant!” at the newly minted NBA MVP Gilgeous-Alexander.

Target Center crowd chants “free throw merchant” at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pic.twitter.com/XuIWMKmfW3
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) May 25, 2025

Calling Gilgeous-Alexander a “free throw merchant” is a pejorative way of saying that he relies excessively on fishing for free throws. Interestingly enough, ESPN’s Doris Burke used that exact term to describe Gilgeous-Alexander in Game 1, so the “merchant” jab has clearly gone mainstream at this point.

Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the NBA in scoring this season with 32.7 points per game, could only manage 14 points on 4-of-13 shooting Saturday (with a very uncharacteristic four total free throws attempted). Fans are growing increasingly irritated with Gilgeous-Alexander’s style of play, so something like this was inevitably going to happen once the Thunder went on the road in this series.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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