NBA superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came home to Hamilton on Thursday and professed his love for the Ontario city during a celebration to mark one of the greatest seasons in league history.
Hundreds of people attended the free rally to honour the Oklahoma City Thunder point guard as he was presented with a key to the city.
In the 2024-2025 season, Gilgeous-Alexander, 27, won the NBA championship, was named the finals MVP and regular-season MVP, and took the league scoring title.
“Growing up as I travelled across the world, people always asked me where I was from … I took pride in letting everyone know I was from Hamilton,” Gilgeous-Alexander told the cheering crowd.
“I liked telling them what Steel City meant to me. Hamiltonians carry a different sense of grit, determination and pride and energy than the rest of the province. And honestly, I couldn’t shy away from that. I carry that with me every day.”
In an elite NBA group
The only other players who have managed the same feat as Gilgeous-Alexander in one NBA season are Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan, who did it four times. That’s all. Just Gilgeous-Alexander and three NBA Hall of Famers. No Lebron. No Kobe. No Steph Curry.
“Many athletes would be considered a great player having had achieved just one of these accolades,” Rowan Barrett, general manager of the Canadian men’s national team, said at the rally. “But to do them all with such grace, calmness under pressure and true leadership in every sense of the word — it was a beautiful thing to behold.”
Mayor Andrea Horwath gave Gilgeous-Alexander the first key to the city to be presented by a Hamilton mayor since 1998, and it’s the city’s highest honour, she said.
“Shai, you’ve not just inspired Hamilton, not just Canada, but fans around the world. And you’ve done it with humility, with heart and an unwavering connection to the city you call home,” said Horwath. “On behalf of all Hamiltonians, we could not be more proud.”
The last recipient of the key to the city was professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was presented by Bob Morrow, the mayor at the time, in September 1998.
Gilgeous-Alexander said he felt “overwhelming joy” when he found out he was getting a key to the city.
He went to high school at St. Thomas More and Sir Allan MacNab, both on the Mountain, and was drafted into the NBA in 2018 after playing one year of college basketball in the U.S.
‘He’s putting us on the map’
Verbo Dela Cruz, 20, was at the rally early to get a good spot to see his idol, Gilgeous-Alexander.
“He’s putting us on the map — not just Toronto. It’s Hamilton now too,” said Dela Cruz.
“He’s a huge inspiration,” added his friend, Maddox Abarico, 21.
A lifelong Hamiltonian, Pam Edgecomb, 75, said being at the rally and seeing Gilgeous-Alexander in person felt surreal.
“Shai, we admire him so much, as an athlete, a human being, a role model, for all ages,” she said. “He’s unbelievable. It’s just unbelievable it really is.”
