'Had Fouls To Use': Jaden McDaniels Reveals Bizarre Reason For Shoving Shai Gilgeous-Alexander In Game 2 Of NBA 2025 Western Conference Finals; Video

Minnesota Timberwolves' Power Forward Jaden McDaniels has underlined the bizarre reason behind shoving Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma Thunder on Thursday during Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. In the post-game presser attended by McDandiels explained that he purposely did it since there were fouls to use.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had eventually won the 2025 NBA MVP trophy for his 38 points to give his team a 2-0 lead, was in the middle of a sensational rally when the 24-year-old pushed his counterpart. After a heated verbal exchange took place between the two teams, McDaniels inevitably got one penalty point.

At the post-game presser, the youngster from Timberwolves explained his actions and stated:

"I wanted to foul him for real. I wasn't even mad. I just had fouls to use."

Jaden McDaniels pushes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to the floor out of frustration (With replays). Upon review, McDaniels' foul got upgraded to a flagrant penalty-1 pic.twitter.com/yr7wiBh1yt

— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) May 23, 2025

Jaden McDaniels on his foul on SGA in the 4Q

"I just wanted to foul him for real. I wasn't even mad. I just had fouls to use." pic.twitter.com/Uqsw4VM0wJ

— Jonah (@Huncho_Jman) May 23, 2025

"You can't really touch Shai" - Chris Finch

Meanwhile, TimberWolves' issues with Gilgeous-Alexander go way back to February 2024 when head coach Chris Finch accused the Thunder of committing a foul and how high quality a player is Shai. He said, as quoted by ESPN:

"It's so frustrating to play this team because they foul a ton. They really do. They foul all the time. And then you can't really touch Shai. And it's a very frustrating thing and it takes a lot of mental toughness to try and play through it. And we just eventually were able to get downhill and force the issue ourselves and were rewarded for it."

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