Before he left Phoenix’s arena and boarded the Clippers’ flight home Friday night, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took bottle after bottle of Gatorade out of a locker-room refrigerator and stuffed them into a plastic bag.
The contents of his extra carry-on went to veteran teammates who assigned Gilgeous-Alexander the kind of “rookie duty” that is typical for the league’s newest members.
The menial tasks are simply a reminder: Gilgeous-Alexander might be a starting point guard who has impressed teammates and opponents alike for a preternaturally smooth, advanced game, but he's still a rookie.
He could have fooled many earlier this season, averaging 10.