Toronto basketball fans have plenty of reasons to tune into the NBA’s conference finals — even though the Raptors season is long-over.
Toronto-born Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the top-ranked Oklahoma City Thunder are taking on his cousin, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s father, Vaughn Alexander told CBC Toronto Wednesday that seeing his son and nephew compete against each other in the NBA feels “surreal.”
“Any man wins, I win,” said Alexander. “One of them is going to play in an NBA final.”
He coached Gilgeous-Alexander and Alexander-Walker when they were kids.
The two cousins, who were born just two months apart, have been playing sports together their whole lives, which Alexander says has helped create a competitive environment between the two.
“They’re going to go hard at each other and they’ve been doing this all their life, but they know at the end of the day, it’s all love,” said Alexander.
He said his son and nephew have been best friends since they were kids and played together on the same team until separating for college, when Gilgeous-Alexander started playing for the Kentucky Wildcats, and Alexander-Walker for the Virginia Tech Hokies.
Gilgeous-Alexander was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2018 NBA draft and his cousin was drafted by the Brooklyn Nets a year later.
Alexander says it doesn’t matter who wins the series at the end of the day, because this is a “win-win” situation for him.
“It’s a pretty good problem to have,” he said. “I can’t lose, right? I’ve got two kids in the Western Conference finals.”
“I just want both of them to play well, be healthy, and have a good series, and after that, I’ll celebrate either way.”
When asked about how it feels to compete against his cousin, Gilgeous-Alexander said it’s very special.
“He’s literally like my second brother. He’s been through every stage in life with me,” he told reporters in a post-game interview on Sunday.
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“For both of us to be where we are is special. To compete against each other is even more special. But I am trying to take his head off, for sure,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.
On Tuesday night, the Thunder defeated the Timberwolves 114-88 in Game 1 of the best-of-seven conference final.
The two teams will face each other again for Game 2 on Thursday night.
