John Calipari reveals Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told Cleveland Cavaliers he would not play for them

John Calipari shared some interesting details about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander not wanting to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers. While appearing on Golic & Golic on the FanDuel Sports Network Wednesday, the Arkansas basketball coach said that Gilgeous-Alexander told him he didn’t want the Cavaliers to draft him.

“I didn’t start in the first four to five games (at Kentucky). And I called him in and said, ‘Look, Shai, I know you should be starting or could be starting, but I kind of like this rotation,'” John Calipari said. “He looked at me and said, ‘Coach, I trust you. I’m fine. I’ll see you at practice.’ Well, game nine and 10, I started him. And from there, he was a lottery pick.

“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.’ I was at the table. I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’ And he ends up going to the Clips. I watched him in a playoff game. That’s when I knew he was going to be in this league a long time.”

The Charlotte Hornets selected Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at No. 11 overall in the 2018 NBA Draft. He was then traded to the Los Angeles Clippers during draft night and spent his rookie season in L.A. The Cavaliers had the No. 8 overall pick in the draft and selected Colin Sexton. After spending four seasons in Cleveland, Sexton was signed and traded to the Utah Jazz in September 2022.

John Calipari predicted MVP for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Gilgeous-Alexander was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in July 2019. He’s still with the team and has emerged as one of the NBA’s best players. Gilgeous-Alexander is the reigning NBA MVP and has led the Thunder to an NBA Finals appearance this year.

Calipari also talked about when he knew that SGA was going to be an NBA MVP. “I went to a regular-season game. He comes from warming up to me to the sideline, to meet the people I was with to say hello, which is a big deal,” Calipari said. “Didn’t need to do that. After he was done, he went to the end zone, started signing autographs, taking pictures, walking the baseline, walking the sideline, and then going in the tunnel. Took him about 15 minutes. I’m like, he’s an MVP.

“I can’t believe it. Called his mom, ‘(Charmine), I’ve never been prouder of your son.’ Oh, wait a minute. I get off the phone, the Oklahoma City employee looks at me and says —Glenn Wong says, ‘Coach, he does it every home game.’ And he’s still doing it now, when they’re playing for a world championship. It tells you who he is and what he’s about. No one asked him to do it. He did it.”