OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be out of action until after the All-Star break due to an abdominal strain, the team announced Wednesday.
The reigning MVP suffered the injury during Oklahoma City's 128-92 win over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night. The Canadian guard will sit out the All-Star games on Feb. 15. Commissioner Adam Silver will choose his replacement for the World team in the round-robin competition.
Gilgeous-Alexander missed Wednesday night’s game at San Antonio. The Thunder have four more games before All-Star Weekend, including a home game against Houston on Saturday and a visit to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday. The team said it will re-evaluate him after the break.
It's a huge loss for the defending NBA champion Thunder, who entered Wednesday night with a league-best 40-11 record. Gilgeous-Alexander is the league's No. 2 scorer with 31.8 points per game, and he is having perhaps his best all-around season. He ranks among the league leaders in field-goal percentage at 55.4% (14th) and in assists, with 6.4 per contest (15th).
“He’s certainly a high-usage, high-impact player for us," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said before the game at San Antonio. “So we’ve got to do it as a group and collectively, which is what we do when he’s on the bench and he’s not on the court.”
Gilgeous-Alexander is on a streak of 121 consecutive games with at least 20 points scored — the second longest in NBA history, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain's run of 126 straight. He scored 20 points on Tuesday night.
His injury is the latest in a string of health setbacks for the Thunder.
In the win over Orlando, Oklahoma City played without Jalen Williams, who missed his eighth straight game with a hamstring injury, and Ajay Mitchell, who sat out his sixth game in a row with an abdominal strain. Williams was an All-Star in 2025 and Mitchell has been one of the league's most improved players in his second year.
The Thunder sat much of their team on Wednesday. Williams and Mitchell remain out. All-Star Chet Holmgren (lower back spasms), starting guard Lu Dort (knee inflammation), starting center Isaiah Hartenstein (eye abrasion) and reserve Alex Caruso (right adductor) were sidelined. Hartenstein just returned from an injury and had his first career triple-double on Tuesday night.
Oklahoma City's depth took another hit when the team traded reserve Ousmane Dieng to the Charlotte Hornets earlier Wednesday.
As usual, Daigneault saw potential in the situation. He has built a reputation for developing young players, and those that remain will get more opportunities in the coming weeks.
“We’ve played a lot of games like this over the last couple of years, and we’ve gotten something out of them, usually,” he said.
AP freelance writer Raul Dominguez in San Antonio contributed to this report.
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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) handles the ball against Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane, left, during the second half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looks back after making a basket during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Orlando Magic, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) looks for an outlet against Orlando Magic guard Anthony Black, left, during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
DETROIT (AP) — Mickey Lolich, who earned three complete-game wins for the Detroit Tigers in the 1968 World Series, the last Major League Baseball pitcher to accomplish that feat, died Wednesday. He was 85.
The Tigers said Lolich's wife told them he died after a short stay in hospice care. An exact cause of death was not provided.
Denny McLain was the star of Detroit’s pitching staff in 1968, winning 31 regular-season games. Lolich, however, was the Most Valuable Player of the Series, with a 1.67 ERA and a Game 7 victory on the road over Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Bill Freehan threw off his catcher’s mask and caught a foul popup by Tim McCarver for the final out. Lolich jumped into Freehan’s arms — an iconic image of Detroit’s championship season.
“It was always somebody else,” Lolich told the Detroit Free Press in 2018, “but my day had finally come.”
He is No. 23 in career strikeouts with 2,832, ahead of many others who, unlike Lolich, are in the Hall of Fame, and fifth among all lefties, according to baseball-reference.com.
Lolich was an unlikely hero in 1968. During a reunion of the World Series team, he recalled how manager Mayo Smith had sent him to the bullpen for much of August. Lolich returned to the Tigers' starting rotation and went 6-1 in the final weeks.
“I was having a few problems, but I had been a starting pitcher ever since 1964,” said Lolich, who was upset about the bullpen move. “I remember telling him, ‘If we win this thing this year it’s going to be because of me.’ But I was only talking about the season. I wasn’t talking about the World Series.
“I got my revenge back in the World Series,” he said.
Lolich pitched Game 7 after only two days of rest. He figured he would get a Corvette from General Motors for being the Series MVP but had to settle for a Dodge Charger GT because Chrysler was the sponsor in 1968.
“Nothing against Chargers, nothing at all,” Lolich said in his book, “Joy in Tigertown.” “It’s just that I already had two of them in my driveway.”
Since Lolich, only two pitchers have won three games in a single World Series: Arizona’s Randy Johnson in 2001 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2025. But they pitched fewer innings and got their third victories in relief.
Lolich had a record of 220-192, including the postseason, over a 16-year career, all but three with Detroit. He left baseball for a bit after playing for the New York Mets in 1976 but returned with San Diego in 1978-79.
The left-hander was 25-14 in 1971, striking out 308 batters over 376 innings and finishing second in AL Cy Young Award voting. He followed that up with a 22-14 record and 250 strikeouts in 1972.
In a statement, the Tigers expressed condolences to Lolich's family and said his legacy “will forever be cherished.”
After his baseball career, Lolich, a native of Portland, Oregon, was in the doughnut business in the Detroit suburbs, making and selling them for 18 years.
“I doubt any other ballplayer has ever made that transition — from the diamond to doughnuts. But I did,” he wrote in his book.
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FILE- In this Oct. 10, 1968, file photo, Detroit Tigers Pitcher Mickey Lolich he pours bottle of champagne on his head in clubhouse after defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 in Game 7 of baseball's World Series in 1968. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - Former Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich throws out the ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Tigers and the Pittsburgh Pirates, March 30, 2018, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 3, 1968, file photo, Mickey Lolich of the Detroit Tigers is shown pitching during the second game of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - Mickey Lolich, pitcher of Detroit Tigers poses for a photo, March 1968. (AP Photo, File)
Detroit Tigers catcher Bill Freehan and pitcher Mickey Lolich off his feet as he screams with joy, after defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 in the final game of the World Series on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 1968 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Joining the celebration is Norm Cash (25). Lolich became the twelfth pitcher to win three games in the World Series. (AP Photo)
