SGA took measures to dodge Cavs in 2018 NBA Draft, stunning his college coach: ‘What are you doing?’

Before Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became a household name and one of the brightest stars in the NBA, he was an auspicious prospect hoping to hear his name called in the early part of the 2018 NBA Draft.

Gilgeous-Alexander played for the University of Kentucky under head coach John Calipari in the 2017-18 college season and averaged 14.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had the No. 8 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft and apparently were interested in drafting him, but Gilgeous-Alexander instead made sure to avoid landing with the Cavaliers. He reportedly refused to work out for them ahead of the draft and even told Calipari that he didn’t want to land in Cleveland, which seemingly left the highly accomplished collegiate coach stunned.

Calipari, now the head coach at the University of Arkansas, told the story during an appearance on “Golic & Golic.”

“He made himself a lottery pick to the point that Cleveland wanted to draft him, and he said, ‘No, I’m not going to Cleveland,’” Calipari recalled. “I was at the table. I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’ And he ends up going to the [Los Angeles] Clips. I watched him in a playoff game. That’s when I knew he was going to be in this league a long time.”

NBA insider Brian Windhorst reported before the 2018 NBA Draft that Gilgeous-Alexander seemingly didn’t want to play for the Cavs.

The Cavaliers owned the No. 8 pick in the draft despite reaching the 2018 NBA Finals because of a trade they made with the Boston Celtics prior to the start of the 2017-18 campaign. Cleveland traded guard Kyrie Irving to Boston and received the pick as part of the trade package for the gifted scorer. It ended up being the No. 8 pick because it originally belonged to the Brooklyn Nets, who had a bad season.

Cleveland ended up using that pick on guard Collin Sexton, who averaged 20-plus points per game in two of his four seasons with the Cavaliers before he was included in the Donovan Mitchell trade and shipped off to the Utah Jazz. He was a sign-and-trade piece in that deal.

Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t hear his name called until the Charlotte Hornets selected him with the No. 11 overall pick. He was then quickly traded to the Clippers. He spent his rookie season with the Clippers and then was traded again, landing him with OKC.

The guard is now an NBA veteran, and he’s off to an incredibly impressive start to his first NBA Finals from an individual standpoint. So far in the championship series against the Indiana Pacers, he’s averaging 32.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.

However, OKC is now in a 1-2 hole following a Game 3 loss. Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will look to even up the series at two games with a road win in Friday’s Game 4.