Former Cat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander now is hoping to win an NBA championship. (Wikimedia Commons photo)

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Former Kentucky guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a historic season for the Oklahoma City Thunder to get his team into the NBA Finals where he has a chance to add even more to his legacy.

One of Gilgeous-Alexander’s biggest supporters for years has been Canadian Steve Nash, a two-time NBA MVP and eight-time all-star player as well as a NBA coach. Nash ranks as one of the top players in NBA history in career 3-point shooting, free-throw shooting, total assists and assists per game. In 2018, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Gilgeous-Alexander admits it would be “amazing” to win a NBA championship like Nash did.

“Steve obviously is a pioneer for Canadian basketball. He started the whole thing, I guess you can say. From the way he plays, to the way he carries himself, to his approach to the game, like, I learned so much from Steve being a 17-year-old kid in two weeks of time that helped me get here,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

“The things he’s done with Canada basketball as a whole and just pushing the culture forward is just amazing. To win a title on top of everything that happened this year would be special.

“I said this so many times, I don’t play for the individual stuff, I don’t play for anything else besides winning. I never have in my whole life. When I was nine-years-old I played to win an OBA championship. When I was 20 years old, I played to win the SEC championship. Now I’m 26, I want to win the NBA championship. It’s always about winning for me.