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The Oklahoma City Thunder's first-round matchup against the Phoenix Suns was about as undramatic as expected.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company, in their quest to repeat, steamrolled through the Western Conference's No. 8 seed for a sweep, not leaving many interesting storylines behind in their dominance. But still, some friendly banter between Gilgeous-Alexander and the always-pesky Dillon Brooks added an element of fun.
Shortly after the Thunder sent the Suns home for the offseason, Gilgeous-Alexander trolled Brooks with a social media post, prompting a light-hearted back-and-forth between the two Canadian stars.
Here's a look at how Gilgeous-Alexander trolled Brooks with his "villain" comments and how the Suns forward responded.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander trolls Dillon Brooks in social media post
Gilgeous-Alexander and Brooks are known to be friendly with one another — they've each represented Canada in international events previously, with no real bad blood. But Brooks has long been the NBA player who will do anything he can to get under a star player's skin, and that includes Gilgeous-Alexander.
After Game 2 of the recent Thunder-Suns series, Brooks, who had 30 points that night, said guarding Gilgeous-Alexander was "a little frail."
"Little frail. That's what the refs are going to call. I got to be smarter about it, but this is the playoffs, a man's game."
Dillon Brooks on defending Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
"When I used to watch this back when Michael Jordan was playing, or whoever else, when LeBron… pic.twitter.com/Zz4XrpK340
Gilgeous-Alexander later had a tame response, saying he's unfazed by Brooks playing his "villain" role and that he's a "great guy."
Shai on Dillon:
"A great guy no matter what people say about him he's a really good guy when you get to know him. All that villain stuff it doesn't faze me. I know exactly who Dillon is. He had a hell of a series. Keep getting better I'm proud of him" pic.twitter.com/MIlF3jR4Fx
However, on Tuesday, Gilgeous-Alexander — known for his creative and playful Instagram captions — wrote: "everybody wants to be villainous until the brooms come out & the dust settles & you realize who the villain is."
In that post, he included a photoshopped picture of him next to Brooks, whose jersey read: "Cancun on 3."
Brooks had fun with it, leaving a comment that read: "Sounds like a ghost writer - The Villain." His Instagram bio also reads, "Villain or vigilante?"
While the two stars had their banter, it was undoubtedly nothing serious. After Oklahoma City's Game 4 win to sweep the series, Gilgeous-Alexander and Brooks were seen embracing and laughing together.
SGA and Dillon Brooks share a moment post-game after a hard fought series. 🤝 pic.twitter.com/CPp13e3mOZ
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