What Makes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Untouchable?

With the NBA off-season upon us, trade rumors regarding Anthony Davis are in full effect. However, the LA Clippers have made sure to get out in front of one thing in particular. The fact that no matter the deal, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being included is a non-starter.

Those around the NBA may wonder why exactly the Clippers are so dead set on retaining a second-year guard who was taken outside of the top-10 in the 2018 draft and didn’t even crack All-Rookie first team. It’s a fair question if you aren’t intimately familiar with this Clippers team or those of the past. Of course, if you were to ask a majority of Clippers fans themselves, it’s something that makes perfect sense.

Although Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t taken with one of the top-10 picks in the draft, he obviously should have come off the board sooner, knowing what we do now. Fortunately, the Clippers knew (as much as one can know before a prospect actually plays in an NBA game). They also knew that if the rest of the NBA got a chance to work out and talk to the young man, there’s no way he would fall to them at picks 12 and 13.

Luckily for them, SGA and his camp were just as high on the Clippers as they were on him. Whether it’s because he wanted to enjoy all the things the city of Los Angeles has to offer or because he saw an organization on the rise, both parties made sure that Shai would be wearing a Clippers cap on draft night. Or at least by night’s end…

Coming out of Kentucky, Shai and his agent declined to make the usual pre-draft rounds. Rather, they supposedly had any team that was interested visit them in Los Angeles for a private workout.

It had been speculated that multiple teams were interested in working out SGA, but the express purpose of holding his workout in Southern California was because Gilgeous-Alexander’s camp were interested in getting him to the Clippers with one of their late lottery picks. After presumably securing some sort of behind-closed-doors assurance that the Clippers would select him, Shai dropped off the radar and simply waited to hear his name called by Adam Silver on draft night.

Fast-forward to the draft itself and the Clips were indeed able to snag SGA, albeit at the expense of a couple second-rounders due to a smart move by the Hornets; Gilgeous-Alexander sliding all the way down to the 11th pick. Past the likes of Mo Bamba, Wendell Carter Jr., Collin Sexton, Kevin Knox, and Mikal Bridges. Any of which may have been taken after Shai, had other teams gotten as good a look at him as the Clippers.

Simply based off of this sequence of events, you have a player that clearly wants to be an LA Clipper, and is dedicated to building something special with the team, long-term. That, for any organization, is something that should be, and clearly is, highly valued. Particularly when involving a player of Shai’s caliber.

Through a season in which the Clippers weren’t expected to win more than 35 games (give or take) and proved everyone wrong, a rookie Gilgeous-Alexander became an integral part of the team’s rotation, and playing one of the game’s most important positions. He went through some rookie growing pains, but eventually proved to be a player that coach Doc Rivers couldn’t afford to not have on the floor. A twenty year-old that went from playing behind an abysmal Avery Bradley to starting games in the playoffs and breaking out against a team that’s won three of the last four NBA championships.

And as great as Shai was in his rookie year, it looks as though he’s only just scratched the surface of how great he can be. Both on and off the court.

That combination of commitment, talent, and youth makes it understandably difficult for Lawrence Frank and co. to include Shai in any trade, let alone a trade for a potential flight risk in a player such as Anthony Davis. Yes, you have an established All-World talent in Davis, but you have no true assurance that he would commit to the Clippers long-term. Even if you did, who’s to say he doesn’t try to force his way out anyway. Risks like those are as much of what make SGA untouchable as Shai himself.

Ultimately, the Clippers just see something in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander that they deem irreplaceable. Some thing or combination of things that simply aren’t worth forfeiting in a deal that might work out. If you’ve spent any considerable amount of time watching him play, you’re likely to have seen it, too.

This Clippers front office has worked hard in the last few years to put themselves in a place where they’re set up to succeed for a very long time. They won’t start making any rash decisions now that could potentially hinder that success down the line.

Of course, not everyone is of the same opinion. How does Clipper Nation feel about Shai being made essentially untouchable by the organization? Is there a scenario in which you would like to see him being made available or do you share the front office’s position? We at Clipperholics would love to know.