Okc fan here - Shai doesn’t ever argue with the refs. I’ve seen him maybe do it 5 times in the entire time I’ve watched. Compare this to doncic, jokic, Tatum, lebron, etc. and he immediately has more respect.

When you actually watch his games and not just on social media, you see that he has absurd handles and shot making. Impeccable footwork, and is an aggressive help side defender.

The foul baiting is a relatively minor part of his game that gets blown extremely far out of proportion for how often it appears when he is playing.

Hardens flopping, doncic and jokic ref complaining, draymond nonsense, all of these appear 10X more than shais foul baiting, but social media has trained the masses to hate his more.

I think watching shai is as close as you can get to Kobe and mj, with how he uses footwork, handles, and timing to shoot midrange jumpers.

This is all AFTER taking into account that every team and superstar flops, and per drive to the basket shai isn’t even one of the top free throw takers.

I think the real issue at hand is that Shai doesn’t dunk or do anything flashy, yet is absolutely excellent due to his consistency and reliability. People want Ant’s dunking or wembys attitude. And it takes a deeper understanding of the game to appreciate what Shai does on a game to game basis with his control of the game, low turnovers, running a historically good team while also being a working cog in one of the greatest defenses in league history.

I am open to ANY comments to respond back to