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

[CharityStripe34]

It's a new age of parity; there isn't a dominant team making multiple Finals trips (or even star) and a majority of the top players are all foreign-born. It's a similar era to the early aughts where you had a small handful of guys being clearly above the rest, but not a singular superstar. There aren't actual rivalries anymore either.

[Raps in 4]

He's a soft-spoken Canadian playing for a city most Americans can't find on a map.

[Bornstellar]

Same reason Harden was never the face of the league. His play style is not marketable. Plus he's Canadian and the NBA prefers an American to be their face imo

[bbms]

i honestly don't give a damn about the face of the league lol

[ChumboChappati]

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?

NBA is an American game, so the "face of the league" has to be an American. He is already here Antman.

[ATLTimekeeper]

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.

He's from The Hammer, which is not a suburban outskirt of Toronto. It's a blue collar city with its own identity.

[DavidSterned]

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

I don't think his Canadian-ness has much of anything to do with it. Most people wouldn't even know he was Canadian, and Nash was Canadian and became fairly marketable. He may have received a small publicity boost last year if he was on Team USA, but I doubt it would have made a huge difference. Tatum and Kawhi are both Americans who won rings and/or played in the Olympics and neither one of them has ever been seen as a face of the league either for various reasons.

The big reasons why SGA isn't talked about are

1. He's got an unassuming personality and game. Nothing about his game is super marketable or flashy, and while he's a great player he doesn't do any one thing at an otherworldly level. He also seems like he values his privacy in general and doesn't solicit a lot of attention.

2. He plays in a small market that until last year wasn't even a playoff team.

3. He was a relatively late-bloomer who was drafted outside of the top 10 and thus didn't receive the kind of attention early on that top players usually get. It took him a number of seasons to even make the all-star team, let alone enter the top player conversation.

4. Yeah, that name isn't super marketable either. Like Giannis, having a longass name that doesn't flow off the tongue doesn't help.

[Sisqo]

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.

Not saying you're wrong but a someone who grew up and lives in Hamilton, calling it a suburban of Toronto is hilarious.

[Woodsanity]

SGA isnt American either.

[Raps in 4]

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.

Not saying you're wrong but a someone who grew up and lives in Hamilton, calling it a suburban of Toronto is hilarious.

I mean, it basically is. It's part of a continuous urban area that stretches out from Toronto. If Toronto was a US city, Hamilton would be part of the GTA (their CMA boundary usually extends 2-3 times further than ours). It's why Chicago has 9 million people and Toronto has 6 million. Chicago's CMA boundary is 3 times larger. If you extend Toronto's boundary to the same size, the population also goes up to 9 million. Off-topic, I know. I just find this stuff interesting.

[NZB2323]

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?

NBA is an American game, so the "face of the league" has to be an American. He is already here Antman.

The Beatles were the face of Rock N Roll.

Schwarzenegger was the face of Hollywood.

Drake was the face of Hip Hop.

Einstein was the face of physics.

Ohtani is the face of baseball.

Basketball was invented by a Canadian and is a global game now.

[jerok]

He’s not American.
NBA would never allow it.

[ATLTimekeeper]

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.

Not saying you're wrong but a someone who grew up and lives in Hamilton, calling it a suburban of Toronto is hilarious.

I mean, it basically is. It's part of a continuous urban area that stretches out from Toronto. If Toronto was a US city, Hamilton would be part of the GTA (their CMA boundary usually extends 2-3 times further than ours). It's why Chicago has 9 million people and Toronto has 6 million. Chicago's CMA boundary is 3 times larger. If you extend Toronto's boundary to the same size, the population also goes up to 9 million. Off-topic, I know. I just find this stuff interesting.

I mean, would you consider Newark a part of Manhatten? Hamilton is its own city with an industrial history that is nearly as old as Toronto.

[Raps in 4]

Not saying you're wrong but a someone who grew up and lives in Hamilton, calling it a suburban of Toronto is hilarious.

I mean, it basically is. It's part of a continuous urban area that stretches out from Toronto. If Toronto was a US city, Hamilton would be part of the GTA (their CMA boundary usually extends 2-3 times further than ours). It's why Chicago has 9 million people and Toronto has 6 million. Chicago's CMA boundary is 3 times larger. If you extend Toronto's boundary to the same size, the population also goes up to 9 million. Off-topic, I know. I just find this stuff interesting.

I mean, would you consider Newark a part of Manhatten? Hamilton is its own city with an industrial history that is nearly as old as Toronto.

Newark is literally part of the New York metropolitan area though lol. The only reason Hamilton isn't officially part of the GTA is that we use tighter metropolitan area borders than the US.

[HawksVictory]

Because he plays in one of the smallest markets in America, simple as that.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

I think it has more to do with personality.

[JRoy]

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?

NBA is an American game, so the "face of the league" has to be an American. He is already here Antman.

Just no.

He is too clueless, says too many stupid things.

[Raps in 4]

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?

NBA is an American game, so the "face of the league" has to be an American. He is already here Antman.

Just no.

He is too clueless, says too many stupid things.

Jokic and Giannis, two Europeans playing in small markets, have been the best players in the NBA over the last 6 years. Neither one has become the face of the league. We'll see if Luka becomes the face now that he's on the Lakers.

[Black Jack]

"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.

I've been pointing this out for awhile now. American fans aren't interested in import players as much.

Ant winning a ring will easily make him "face of the league". Shai winning will not.

[syrus3]

He’s not that far off from Tatum. They both want to be the faces of the league. They both play victim. And Shai plays for a team that isn’t likeable and he’s THE biggest foul baiter since Harden.