Maybe one or two soft calls. None that were partially egregious in terms of foul baiting. What’s the freak out about?

I’m sorry to the SGA haters, but these are all fouls (maybe two soft fouls that could be no calls, but stars always get the benefit of the doubt).

I hate how I’m not even a fan of SGA/the Thunder but because of how unhinged this sub is about him I find myself defending him lol

Lol, there were maybe 2 calls that were questionable and that’s being generous to the agenda

All the fouls drawn by SGA was requested by u/Life_Mushroom_1396

I added his personal fouls (2 offensive, 2 defensive) + one no call.

Edit: Thank you guys for all your appreciation, it is lovely to see. ^_^

Lol people can’t accept ausar and holland are handsy defenders and Shai gonna abuse the fuck out of that.

I love it, time to start showing real data, even the nba coaches are taking social media talking points and using it lol it’s embarrassing

People should really appreciate /u/MrBuckBuck for taking the time to do requests like this

I watched the whole thing and there weren’t any egregious calls, some were soft. I also think that was in fact an offensive foul, maybe one or two instances went uncalled earlier in the game as well.

I thought the foul on Ausar in the 4th was pretty soft/shouldn’t have been a foul but other than that, there weren’t any egregiously bad calls

Doesn’t really matter though because people have made up their mind without seeing the fouls/the game

are there people who think that players ask refs not to get to the line when being fouled? cuz he got fouled in all but ill say one here, so he has to go to the line. that’s how it works and people don’t want him to?

Hey I hate to be that guy but in this case, he was actually fouled on like 80% of those fouls. They were making it easy for him to draw fouls.

Was pretty shocked at the comments on here because I thought it was a pretty appropriate number of FT last night, one or two soft ones but the rest looked legit

As a pistons fans, I didn’t really have a problem with the calls that Shai was getting last night. I just want the same treatment when we’re on offense. Example, when Caruso was holding Huerter back coming off the screen which led to a turnover late in the 4th. Just be fair and consistent to both sides.

But I’m not going to blame the refs for last nights loss. We missed about 11 or 12 free throws in regulation, if we shot better from the free throw line we win that game.

Lol this thread is getting downvoted heavily when it’s literally an unbiased and very well produced compilation that allows you to impartially assess whether he was foul baiting.

Thanks Buck. Those salty ass fans dont bother to watch games.

Wizard game highlights aren’t even this long lol

The SGA hate really gets to a point to where I question where it really comes from. Listen I don’t like the playstyle either but Luka literally averages more free throws than SGA and even though people do talk about that it isn’t nearly as big as the freakout if Shai happens to get 10+ free throws in a game.

Let me put it this way.

Jaylen Brown: Hypocrite crybaby

Steve Kerr: Hypocrite crybaby

Mike Brown: Hypocrite crybaby

Chris Finch: Hypocrite crybaby

Nick Nurse: Hypocrite crybaby

Motherfuckers will do anything but adjust. Keep crying to the media for popularity points.

You guys complain about freethrows and fouls ruining the game, but are okay with players and coaches becoming complete fucking bitches playing politics and narratives instead of making adjustments.

I don’t want to hear it anymore.

All of these are fouls

Edit: two can be argued as soft calls but they get called every other night

SGA is going full speed at his defenders and he’s incredibly shifty.

He takes more contact than probably any player in the league. His free throws are justified.

I am a Thunder fan, and i do not mind this, most of these look clean fouls.

Although it was more than one no call that should have been called where he was hacked pretty hard.

This does not fit the narrative on r/NBA from last night.

Fucking despise those haters they dont even bother to watch games. Salty ass mofos.

For the people who claim u can’t touch him or he gets a soft whistle. The second “foul” in this video wasn’t even called a foul it was called out of bounds.

The Pistons entire game plan with Shai was to purposely play overly aggressive with him, cycle through their rotation of defenders, and hope they came out ahead in the end. They followed that game plan, they just didn’t come out ahead. Idk what people are mad about

MVP

Is this fun for you all? This is how the NBA is enjoyed in 2026—10-minute foul evaluation videos like we’re in a referee clinic.

I don’t care who it is, the nba needs to change. Call the forearm push off as an offensive foul. And if you as the offensive player initiate contact, then it really shouldn’t be a defensive foul.

There is nothing wrong with drawing fouls, just want it to be consistent for every player. Hell of a game for both teams!

All pretty clear fouls, this doesn’t even include no calls

He should’ve shot 30

Why did Thompson foul out? He defended by moving his feet, didn’t reach, maintained defensive position. Shai fell down so the ref felt compelled to blow the whistle. I hate that shit.

People acting like a lot of these aren’t soft ass calls that most players don’t get lmao.

The tough part about a number of these fouls is that they do pass as legitimate fouls in the modern NBA. But I guess the question is, should they?

One of the newer wrinkles to prolific foul drawing I’ve seen in recent years is when an offensive player is driving from Point A to Point B in a straight line with nobody directly in front of him, hampered only by a defender by his side. The offensive player has learned that deviating from their straight line as a means of intentionally running into that saddling defender will often earn them a foul call, even if the defender wasn’t the one initiating or bringing the contact to the defender. SGA utilizes that technique regularly and did so a number of times last night.

That being said, there were plenty of legitimate foul calls last night too. My quick rundown from the video above:

1. 0:00 SGA initiates contact into defender first

2. 0:50 Bump to create space, kicks legs out, defender in landing zone. This is a modern foul after ZaZa.

3. 1:02 Foul in almost any era

4. 1:30 Guessing accurate hacking foul from digging defender (couldn’t see from cam). Would be a foul in any era.

5. 1:50 Appears he may have helped push defender out of position with off-arm, then benefits from running into defender trying to recover on drive

6. 2:00 - Just a foul. The end.

7. 2:20 - Brings to the contact to a retreating or neutral defender, earns foul. Paul Reed also reaches after being dislodged.

8. 2:50 Defender very clearly gets SGA on the arm.

9. 3:10 SGA called for hooking offensive foul. Hook appears present.

10. 3:45 Defender appears to put both hands on SGA on perimeter to prevent blow by. Easy call. Pistons had foul to give.

11. 4:00 Late whistle on some degree of body contact inside.

12. 4:15 Not a great driving lane for SGA. Uses gather to lean body into defender and bounce off, forcing official’s hand into foul call.

13. 5:00 SGA tumbles to the ground after contact in backcourt. The type of play that an offensive player would often absorb and continue playing through, or one a savvy player would fall down on, knowing the contact is enough to milk a foul, especially when the alternative is for an official to just let a turnover occur. The fall appears to be embellished.

14. 5:30 Pushes off with left arm, initiates the contact. Defender called for foul upon returning contact.

15. 6:05 SGA called for offensive foul. Extended left arm, not as forceful as a number of other pushoffs that SGA and others have succeeded in executing all year.

16. 8:00 Huerter makes contact with SGA’s hand while the ball is still in SGA’s hand, which is a foul (I must admit my ignorance, I wasn’t aware of that distinction until official’s description).

17. 8:30 Pistons appear to be trying to foul despite shot clock running down in one possession game (didn’t watch the game, don’t know the full context here). Looks like they got him. On replay, SGA using off arm but Holland clearly with hand on back and may have clipped a foot. Maybe they weren’t trying to foul after all.

18. 9:25 Intentional foul.

I have no problem with SGA getting so many FTs, he is kinda good at basketball lol and (at least) most of the calls are fouls (not just this game). But I kinda hate foul criteria and ref inconsistency. A foul is a foul but it feels like SGA gets the whistle easier and with less contact. Whereas “bigger” players sometimes get absolutely clobbered and the refs just swallow the whistle. It feels like the refs thinking process is just -> bigger player = must allow more contact…

No different than the games where Luka, Cade or Jokic had an absurd amount of free throws. Just ask the defenders why they kept fouling them

10 minute compilation lol

I was told there would be egregious foul baits!! This isn’t that!! Surely people who dont watch the games wouldn’t lie to push a narrative! Nah no way.

Almost like he’s actually getting fouled

The one that really sticks out is Ausar’s 6th foul. Ausar is so good at beating defenders to a spot and we lowkey saw this with Brunson in the playoffs last year where the offensive player just crumbles to the floor because they can’t get past Ausar. And for some reason JB never challenges when it comes to him either

I don’t think people have a problem with the fouls being called, albeit some of them being quite soft. I think people have a problem because the SAME refs will NOT give a foul to the their team similar to what SGA is getting.

For example, Lebron, Giannis, Jokic to name a few are getting battered and it’s fine for some reason.

Guy who is elite at driving, not just elite, but best in the world currently, gets fouled by defenders losing position on him.

Crazy.

Can you believe that? Defenders putting their arms in the wrong place because they are getting blown by?

Nah. It’s all flops.

Lol so much crying over free throws. Just play better. Shai isn’t going anything every all star hasn’t done.

I will expose my bias - I’m a nuggets fan. What bothers me about this is that the slightest tap on SGA is routinely called (correctly by the letter of the rule), yet on the other end of the floor Caruso and Dort get away with murder without a whistle. All I want is consistency. Sure, it will result on a 3.5 hour game that’s impossible to watch, but at least it will be fair.

If cade was on the floor Sga would’ve only had half as many fouls. They play alot more aggressively without him.

I don’t think people really disagree that he gets fouled often. My personal opinion is if the refs called this the same for every player there would be 2x more FTA in the league.

U

Looks good to me👍 glad we got that cleared up. Always gonna be some bad calls, its sports.

I don’t get why opposing fans come in saying, “they were all fouls, maybe 2 weren’t.” Acting like none of them are fouls is obviously wrong.

My issue is consistency. He always seems to get the call, while others don’t get the same whistle on the other end. SGA isn’t a merchant and he has no more control over the refs than any other player. But it does feel like he gets the benefit of the doubt more than others.

Pistons should have won but they were 40 percent from FT line

Well deserved loss for the pistons

I think people are ignoring the fact that other people are being fouled and not having it called as consistently as SGA because he is so good at selling it.

The Thompson blocking foul at half court is questionable, but for the most part, he’s fouled in all his drives so I don’t have an issue at all here. Pistons reaching in a lot on those drives.

Like Nick Nurse said, they foul too!

OKC have really good players that doubling Shai is probably a higher risk than taking him 1-1

The thing that annoys me is that James harden did this for 3-5 years straight averaged 36.1 one season and people didn’t complain how they do now. im not even a huge Shai fan but I get sick of people complaining like it’s his fault when it’s the leagues inability and ineptitude to be able to enforce the rules of basketball

If this was FIBA he’d get ¹⁄₄ of these calls. Maybe I just don’t like NBA basketball at this point.

u/MrBuckBuck is the goat. Thank you for doing what qll thunder fans wish they had the patience to do. Theres only like 2 fouls in here that i wouldnt care if they went either way.

Yeah these are all fouls. Great compilation! 2 things can be true: SGA can get correct foul calls, and it can be frustrating to watch guys like him/Sengun/Luka/Brunson initiate contact and do the head jerk + jelly body after a legit foul in order to sell it. The game’s broken in the sense that players who try hardest to play through contact and go up strong don’t get rewarded for similar contact, even though that’s the style of play most people want to watch. It’s clear from this video that SGA didn’t have to sell that much this game, though. He was getting hacked left and right and balled out.

Fouls and penalties in all sports are stupid and have always been stupid. They’re inconsistent, and are often circumstantial in nature.

Can you put together a reel of The Rockets defense and what they did “got away with” against Steph Curry in the playoffs last season? As a Warriors fan it annoys me that Steph doesn’t get the same whistle as most superstars. It’s like they’re purposely nerfing him.

Yeah it turns out the Pistons just slap arms a lot

Imo there are 8 should be calls here, 6 that can go either way and the other 2 are not fouls imo. Would be interesting to see the ones he didn’t get called but wanted to be called aswell

This comment section is the first time in forever that I can remember people being rational about Shai. Think it’s illustrative that when people actually watch the games, they’ll reach different conclusions than what the narrative has painted. But so many people on here just don’t watch the games

I just hate the way the nba officiates and allows the offensive player to lower their shoulder, initiate contacts, push off slightly, and then it’s a foul on the defender for pushing their chest out to absorb the shoulder contact. Makes no sense when slowed down or in real time. Contact that isn’t called a foul in my bi weekly pick-up games, where everyone is 35+, shouldn’t be called in the nba. Officiating is the issue. Fuck the officials

You reach he teach