Shai Gilgeous-Alexander talks about foot injury, chances of Olympic play
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s season ended around March 24 when he was diagnosed with right foot plantar fasciitis.
After about a month and a half of dealing with the injury, the star said during his exit interviews on Monday that the foot is progressing but still not back to normal.
“Feel a lot better than I did a month ago, two months ago, I feel like I’m getting better every day. So I’m satisfied with that,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
Without Gilgeous-Alexander in the lineup, the Thunder finished the season 3-25.
Head coach Mark Daigneault had emphasized in the first days of the injury that the absence was not maintenance- or rest-related.
When Gilgeous-Alexander was placed on the injured list, the Thunder also shut down Al Horford. Daigneault said at the time that it was earlier than the team had planned to shut Horford down, but they did so at this time because Gilgeous-Alexander’s “significant” injury presented a reasonable time to start focusing on the young players.
That put Oklahoma City on its true trajectory for a bottom-five record in the NBA, but the team also knew the seriousness of the injury. Just last season, a different Thunder player dealt with a different case of plantar fasciitis.
Forward Isaiah Roby first suffered the injury when he played at Nebraska. At the time, he was told that he would be able to play through it without lasting effects.
That was shown to be wrong. Roby underwent surgery on the right foot in July 2020 and missed the NBA bubble the next month as a result.
Since he finished rehab, he said, he has not felt pain in the area.
“When I heard that he was dealing with that, it told him … it can get worse,” Roby said during his exit interview. “Be smart about it. Don’t try to be a hero, don’t try to rush back from this, because you don’t want it to linger.”
This injury has created pause for Gilgeous-Alexander’s summer plans. He wants to play on the Canadian Olympic team, but said he will only do so if he’s “100% healthy.”
“It’s not a no, it’s not a yes. Me and my people still gotta figure out timelines from when I’m there and then from there we’ll figure it out,” he said.
If Gilgeous-Alexander is able to play, he would have the chance to compete in the Olympics alongside fellow Canadien and Thunder teammate Lu Dort.
