OKLAHOMA CITY — Before Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became a basketball star for the Oklahoma City Thunder, he was a little kid out in Toronto who just wanted to play … soccer? According to father Vaughn Alexander, that was the sport Gilgeous-Alexander loved before he happened to switch over to basketball. Shai’s journey to discovering that basketball was actually his passion involves the cousin he considers a brother: Minnesota Timberwolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker. How Shai Gilgeous-Alexander left soccer for basketball The world has come to know Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the star point guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder, as the Most Valuable Player in the NBA, and recently as Converse Basketball’s new signature athlete. But what many people didn’t know is that Gilgeous-Alexander got his start playing soccer as a kid growing up in Toronto while his cousin, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and brother, Thomasi Gilgeous-Alexander, both played basketball to start. In a recent sit-down interview with Vaughn Alexander, Shai’s father, during the 2025 NBA Finals, it was revealed that the Thunder star’s first passion was soccer. SGA needed a little nudge to try out for the basketball team. “When they were young, I put them in a lot of sports,” Vaughn Alexander told ClutchPoints of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander during the NBA Finals. “Basketball, soccer, tennis, just anything to just keep them active. And before Shai could even walk, he had balls in his cribs, he had his muscle skills, motor skills, working with the balls in his hands from day one. It was always just a basketball, football, sport type of person. And that’s the way I built him, just him, Nickeil [Alexander-Walker], and Thomasi the same way. Just play sports and just be active from an early age. “So he started off with soccer. Soccer was like my first sport, too. It was the sport where you get your hands, eyes, feet, everything in cohesiveness together. So that was his main, aggressive sport that he was the best in. And then he started to transfer it off to other stuff like baseball and play other sports, football, but then he went to basketball and was like, ‘Yeah, that’s him.’ So that’s why I encourage any parents to just make your kids play any sport that they want to play and figure it out because I think other sports help other sports.” Vaughn Alexander says he never tried to force his son into any one direction as far as sports, admitting that soccer was Gilgeous-Alexander’s best sport and his first passion. But while attending a basketball tryout for Nickeil Alexander-Walker, the future Thunder guard decided to try out for the heck of it. “When he was into soccer, there was one time when I said, ‘Yo, we had a basketball child’ — Nickeil was more of a basketball guy from day one and Shai was more of a soccer guy,” Vaughn Alexander added. “They both played both, but he liked soccer more than basketball and Nickeil liked basketball more than soccer. “And then one time we’re going to a basketball tryout for Nickeil and he’s like, ‘Daddy, I don’t even feel like going to the basketball tryout’. I said, ‘You don’t want to go?’ He’s like, ‘No, I think I’m just going to play soccer.’ I was like, ‘Well, all right.’ That’s another major thing, too. You can’t force your kids to do what they don’t want to do. They got to have the heart and the want to do it, right? So I was like, ‘No problem.’ And we went to the tryout where Nickeil was trying out and Shai’s sitting there on the side. He was supposed to be trying out with Nickeil too. Shai said, ‘No, you know what, let me just try out. I’m literally just sitting here. Let me go try out too.’ And he just kept trying out, trying out, and after a while, he’s just getting better and better at it. When you do it repetitiously, you get better.” Vaughn believes the competition between Shai and Nickeil is also what increased their competitive drive, with both wanting to best the other. “There was a competition between him and Nickeil. Like, oh, I got to be better than Nickeil and yeah, I’m better than Nikeil at soccer, but I want to be better than him in basketball too. So it’s just the competitive nature. And he just started to make the switch. He liked basketball better. “[It was always a competition,] 100 percent. From the bottle, fighting for the bottle, the formula, diapers, toys. Yeah.” In a social media clip from April, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was also seen playing soccer with his son, Ares. Shai’s son, Ares, seems to be picking up soccer. 🥹 pic.twitter.com/utzyVuzKVF — Addam M. Francisco (@SuaveCEO_) April 12, 2025 Who could’ve known that some 15 years later, both would be in the NBA and on the Canadian National Team, competing at the highest level for a chance to win an NBA championship as well as Olympic medals. The 2025 Western Conference Finals featured the Thunder and Timberwolves, a series where Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s families struggled to root for any one side. In the end, the Thunder won and advanced to the NBA Finals, but it was just one of what’s sure to be many great family moments as these two continue to compete head-to-head — and as teammates — on the biggest stages.