Oklahoma City Thunder’s finest made their presence known at the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend despite fans’ high level of criticism.
This past weekend, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played in his third All-Star Game. While Jalen Williams made his All-Star debut, Cason Wallace was also selected for the NBA’s Rising Stars Game but could not compete due to a shoulder injury.
Due to the Thunder’s number-one record in the Western Conference, coach Mark Daigneault was selected as head coach for Team Chuck, and Thunder assistant coach Dave Bliss was the head coach for Team Kenny during Sunday’s All-Star Game.
Thunder Stars Strike the Sneaker World
During the All-Star break, Shai revealed his upcoming signature sneaker with Converse. The “Shai 001” was a large topic of conversation among the sneaker fashion world.
SGA held a special pop-up event to showcase his sneaker Friday night of All-Star weekend. In the past, Shai was named creative director of Converse Basketball. It was only a matter of time before his first signature pair would be released.
When asked about the shoe’s design, Shai said, “I miss the era of when signature basketball sneakers were performative enough to be played in but fashionable enough to be worn. I want to restore that feeling.”
SGA wasn’t the only Thunder player to receive exciting sneaker news this past weekend. Jalen Williams announced that Adidas will be releasing his own colorway of the Harden 9.
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Williams has been wearing Hardens on the court for a while. It’s only right that he is getting a special edition released to the public.
Team Chuck vs. Team Kenny
In the first game of the night, Team Chuck faced Team Kenny.
Shai was drafted to Team Chuck, and Jalen Williams was drafted to Team Kenny. Shai scored a game-high 12 points on perfect 5-for-5 shooting, while Williams finished with just two points, one block, and one steal as Team Kenny fell to Team Chuck.
Shai and Jalen Williams weren’t the only two Thunder players facing off Sunday night. Mark Daigneault and Dave Bliss also had to compete against one another.
Team Chuck vs. Team Shaq
In the Championship game, Shai scored just four points in six minutes in a loss.
When asked about the new All-Star format Shai said, “Yeah, breaks, I guess, weren’t ideal. I would rather play without breaks. But I had fun nonetheless
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During the broadcast, Gilgeous-Alexander told Kevin Hart to “wrap it up” as Hart was heckling players during game breaks. The breaks seemed to annoy Shai just as much as they annoyed fans.
Jalen Williams also criticized the game’s new format, “Yeah, it was a little quick. I would have loved to play a little longer. Obviously, this being my first time, I would like to just play longer.”
Even though the game didn’t go as fans had hoped, OKC’s young stars still made the most of the weekend.
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