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But he was in command. He finished with a playoff career-high 12 assists to one turnover in a game where his teammates combined for eight assists 鈥� only two other Thunder players registered an assist 鈥斅燼nd five non-garbage-time turnovers. He took Game 7 shots when his teammates weren鈥檛 as ready to take Game 7 shots. This was a mature performance, missed shots and all.

So, Shai’s culmination was historic: scoring champion, regular-season MVP and Finals MVP on a team with the biggest scoring margin in league history, and the third-most total wins ever. The list of players who have won a scoring title, regular-season MVP and Finals MVP is truly elite: Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O鈥橬eal, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry.

And now, Shai. The only other players to do it all in one season were Abdul-Jabbar, Jordan (four times) and O鈥橬eal. The only player to do it all at a younger age than Shai was Kareem. As teammate Chet Holmgren put it after Game 7 on Sunday night, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 going to go down in history as one of the greatest seasons that鈥檚 ever been had by a player.鈥�

This is legend stuff, and GTA basketball is a part of the legend. It should all become easier to recite from memory: the son of a Charmaine Gilgeous, the Olympian track athlete from Antigua and Barbuda, and Vaughn Alexander, who won a city basketball title at Georges Vanier, a tough school.

Raised in Toronto, played in the UPlay program at the Hamilton Y, cut from his Grade 9 team at St. Thomas More Secondary in Hamilton, transferred to Sir Allan MacNab, then to the States for his final two years. He was a bench player to start his first and only college season at Kentucky, but led them in minutes played if not scoring. He was a quiet rookie starter on a weird Clippers team before he was the centrepiece of one of the most significant trades in NBA history for Paul George.

And in Oklahoma City, Shai has played near an MVP level for three years now, more or less. He has been named to as many all-NBA first teams as Steve Nash had in his career. This year, the Thunder became a titan, fuelled by one of the most predatory defences in history, and none of it works without Shai.聽

But he still belongs to the GTA. He鈥檚 still the guy who comes home to see his old buddies, who rebound for him, work with him, hang with him, root him in Hamilton. For five years, Shai has trained in the garage of Hamiltonian Nem Ilic, who played in the same UPlay program and who trains Shai on his Hamilton cul-de-sac; Ilic was in OKC for Game 7 and knows how much Hamilton means to Shai.

鈥淚 know what kind of what kind of person he is,鈥� says Ilic. 鈥淟ike the parade is (Tuesday) and we’re flying back home (Tuesday) night.

鈥淗e absolutely is a homebody, just loves to be home. And I think that does say a lot in terms of his roots and what’s built him, because he’s a guy that likes to keep his circle his circle ... And I think that says a lot, because he appreciates people in his circle, and the people who have helped him.鈥�

It’s how he is here, and in OKC. Shai seemed genuinely humbled by the moment. He talked about the stress he never let show, and the weight he carried on those still-slender shoulders that had suddenly evaporated.聽He鈥檚 NBA royalty now.

And soon enough he鈥檒l be sweating in the Hamilton heat. He and Ilic have already joked that Shai isn鈥檛 so famous that he needs air conditioning in the garage. Shai is the child of the GTA聽鈥� of our Caribbean influence, of our soaring basketball culture, and of how so many people from so many backgrounds come here to live. As he told the New York Times in 2022: 鈥淭hose guys give me a sense of home. They give me back a piece of myself that feels like so long ago.鈥�

So long ago, and never far away at all.聽