Why is Shai being overlooked as the "face of the league"

maxpower8888 · Post #1 » by **maxpower8888** » Tue May 20, 2025 12:22 pm

LeBron and Curry have gotten old, and Jokic is a foreigner who avoids the limelight and is on the wrong side of 30, so it makes sense that the league doesn't want to market him as the face. But why is Shai being overlooked for Ant? Is it simply because he's not American? You would think that the guy who's about to be MVP, finished 2nd last year, and potentially a champion would be more heavily marketed. If corny Canadian Drake could be the face of mainstream hip hop for the better part of a decade, why can't Shai be the new face of the league?

brackdan70 · Post #2 » by **brackdan70** » Tue May 20, 2025 12:28 pm

If his team wins and he is the reason then he will be.

maxpower8888 · Post #3 » by **maxpower8888** » Tue May 20, 2025 12:33 pm

brackdan70 wrote:If his team wins and he is the reason then he will be.

Perhaps, but why does he have to do all of that? Luka was touted as the future face of the league since his rookie season, but he has yet to even with an MVP so that talk has been simmering for the last few years. ESPN has been ready to crown Ant for the past year, they don't seem to give Shai the same respect.

All three of these players have generally won the same amount of accolades.

kwajo · Post #4 » by **kwajo** » Tue May 20, 2025 12:36 pm

maxpower8888 wrote:LeBron and Curry have gotten old, and Jokic is a foreigner who avoids the limelight and is on the wrong side of 30, so it makes sense that the league doesn't want to market him as the face. But why is Shai being overlooked for Ant? Is it simply because he's not American? You would think that the guy who's about to be MVP, finished 2nd last year, and potentially a champion would be more heavily marketed. If corny Canadian Drake could be the face of mainstream hip hop for the better part of a decade, why can't Shai be the new face of the league?

Shai has a humble and mature demeanor, very stylish, hard working, and incredibly good at what he does. He's not the flashiest on the court in terms of dunks or drama, and is very levelheaded.

Meanwhile Ant is more dramatic, prone to highlight plays, brash and cocky, and is good for a sound bite or two almost every game. That's much more marketable, because he grabs headlines more, and seems more superhuman in his playing style than Shai.

Shai is more similar to Kawhi, who everyone knew was a top player in the league and a winner, but he didn't reach fame outside of the basketball faithful. Ant is closer to the traditional NBA star mould, he has the big personality and has done more acting, advertising on the national level, and generally that's what American popularity is based around.

GeorgeSears · Post #5 » by **GeorgeSears** » Tue May 20, 2025 12:39 pm

"Jokic is a foreigner" where do you think Shai's from? He's from Canada. The face of the league naturally has to be an American born player, regardless of how good they are.

Only thing is there isn't currently an American born player that I would put in the class of Jokic, Shai, Embiid, Giannis, and Luka. Soon, that list is going to include Wemby. That's what I would call tier 1.

The tier 2 guys include Tatum, Ant, KD, Brunson.

King4Day · Post #6 » by **King4Day** » Tue May 20, 2025 12:40 pm

I think this is more the NBA's fault. They need to promote him more.
As a casual fan (when my team isn't in it), Shai doesn't do anything for me. I think of Giannis, Jokic, LeBron, Luka, and Edwards.
Shai could get there but will have a harder time with how he's portrayed IMO

brackdan70 · Post #7 » by **brackdan70** » Tue May 20, 2025 12:44 pm

maxpower8888 wrote:
brackdan70 wrote:If his team wins and he is the reason then he will be.

Perhaps, but why does he have to do all of that? Luka was touted as the future face of the league since his rookie season, but he has yet to even with an MVP so that talk has been simmering for the last few years. ESPN has been ready to crown Ant for the past year, they don't seem to give Shai the same respect.

All three of these players have generally won the same amount of accolades.

Ant is not on the same level. I don’t know why he gets hyped.
Luka was a 1st team NBA caliber guy since his second year…
SGA didn’t burst on the scene, but improved over time. This is only his third all star year.
I personally have him as the best player in the league right now.

hauntedcomputer · Post #8 » by **hauntedcomputer** » Tue May 20, 2025 12:57 pm

Complicated and hyphenated last name. Even fans don't know how to spell it.

Drop the Gilgeous and he's Hollywood.

Godymas · Post #9 » by **Godymas** » Tue May 20, 2025 1:02 pm

He has potential, but he kind lacks that relatability factor imo.

I actually think it was beneficial for KD to not be the most attractive man. Same with LeBron. Like they’re not ugly, but they are not objectively handsome men. Also they have very humble backgrounds, like LeBron didn’t know his dad, KD grew up in one of the most dangerous parts of the DMV.

SGA looks very comfortable modeling skims and imo a lot of people kind get offput by someone that’s incredibly talented and attractive too. Also SGA comes from a pretty solid middle class, if not more, background. Mother was an olympian, father coached basketball. Looks like the area he grew up in was a pretty normal suburban outskirt for Toronto.

Pure basketball doesn’t always make someone the face of the league.

Curry was an interesting case, but I think all the “too small” and “injury prone” and adversity, plus being a stud in college at a lesser program, all of that helped Curry become really likeable.

Jokic is not the face of the league, despite being so skilled. I think he’s likeable, but he isn’t relatable to a lot of people.

Giannis is borderline face of the league, but truthfully Giannis is proof that a small market will prevent a player from being face of the league. Giannis is incredibly likeable, he’s a family man, humble background, and yet people forget he exists because of the Milwaukee factor.

kenwood3333 · Post #10 » by **kenwood3333** » Tue May 20, 2025 1:02 pm

Doesn't have the personality for the NBA target market (outgoing, loud, me first attitude etc)

maxpower8888 · Post #11 » by **maxpower8888** » Tue May 20, 2025 1:07 pm

GeorgeSears wrote:"Jokic is a foreigner" where do you think Shai's from? He's from Canada. The face of the league naturally has to be an American born player, regardless of how good they are.

Only thing is there isn't currently an American born player that I would put in the class of Jokic, Shai, Embiid, Giannis, and Luka. Soon, that list is going to include Wemby. That's what I would call tier 1.

The tier 2 guys include Tatum, Ant, KD, Brunson.

Yeah but Shai isn't the same kind of "foreigner", if you didn't know he was Canadian you wouldn't be able to tell. Southern Ontario has a very Americanized culture.

Post #12 » by **MoneyTalks41890** » Tue May 20, 2025 1:07 pm

League was late to start promoting him. If he wins it and goes on the media tour that comes with that, we will see how receptive the public/media is then.

He’s also relatively private. But he’s a family guy with a long-time sweetheart. That stuff sells.

TheGeneral99 · Post #13 » by **TheGeneral99** » Tue May 20, 2025 1:12 pm

maxpower8888 wrote:
brackdan70 wrote:If his team wins and he is the reason then he will be.

Perhaps, but why does he have to do all of that? Luka was touted as the future face of the league since his rookie season, but he has yet to even with an MVP so that talk has been simmering for the last few years. ESPN has been ready to crown Ant for the past year, they don't seem to give Shai the same respect.

All three of these players have generally won the same amount of accolades.

Because Shai has really emerged as an MVP candidate last year. Don't forget that Shai had not even made an all-star team until last season and the Thunder were one of the worst teams in the league from 2020-2023. Why would Shai be getting any recognition at the time when his team was blatantly tanking year after year.

Luka in his 2nd season was already an MVP candidate and led the Mavericks to game 7 against the stacked Kawhi-George Clippers and put on a show. He then led the Mavs to the conference finals two more times and the NBA finals once, putting on spectacular playoff performances.

Edwards has been an all-star and MVP candidate for a few years now and had an awesome playoffs last year.

Shai now has a chance to get that respect and be crowned the face of the league, it's up to him.

KGtabake · Post #14 » by **KGtabake** » Tue May 20, 2025 1:14 pm

Because he's Canadian.
Same story before him with Giannis, Jokic, Doncic and soon Wenbanyama.
Edwards is American and that's an American league.

SpurNani · Post #15 » by **SpurNani** » Tue May 20, 2025 1:21 pm

He is elite as it gets and his game is super consistent but isn’t box office enough. Midrange and free throws predominantly are his points.

You need an athletic freak like Bron, Kobe or MJ or a complete anomaly like sweet shooting baby face Curry.

I could see Ant or Cooper Flagg being that face. Or if Luka ever gets in shape and is the next to continue the Laker glory.

TravisScott55 · Post #16 » by **TravisScott55** » Tue May 20, 2025 1:23 pm

He's Canadian

Deathray · Post #17 » by **Deathray** » Tue May 20, 2025 1:26 pm

How do you even quantify "face of the league" to determine whether he's it or not?

TV commercials featuring him have probably gotten the most air time this season when compared with other currently active players and if OKC wins the title I expect his endorsement opportunities to increase.

MNRunLeft · Post #18 » by **MNRunLeft** » Tue May 20, 2025 1:26 pm

Multiple reasons imo, he's Canadian, he plays for a small market team, his team while having regular season success hadn't made a deep playoff run until this season, he's not the best player in the league (Jokic), he's not a highlight real player who's going to go viral for a poster dunk, and he's not signed to one of the major sneaker brands that will maximize his exposure.

bledredwine · Post #19 » by **bledredwine** » Tue May 20, 2025 1:28 pm

maxpower8888 wrote:
brackdan70 wrote:If his team wins and he is the reason then he will be.

Perhaps, but why does he have to do all of that? Luka was touted as the future face of the league since his rookie season, but he has yet to even with an MVP so that talk has been simmering for the last few years. ESPN has been ready to crown Ant for the past year, they don't seem to give Shai the same respect.

All three of these players have generally won the same amount of accolades.

Luka was either 1st or 2nd best player in the playoffs for like a five year stretch.

dautjazz · Post #20 » by **dautjazz** » Tue May 20, 2025 1:37 pm

"Wrong side ot 30". He turned 30 in February. He's got a decade left in the tank. Jokic should age gracefully since he doesn't really on athletism at all.

He's European? So, SGA is Canadian, so it's not like he's American, which doesn't matter. The top 4 players in the NBA aren't American.

Anyways, between MJ and Lebron, there really wasn't a "face of the NBA", it was some combo of Shaq, Kobe, KG, Duncan, etc.