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A Soaring N.B.A. Star Brings His Friends Along for the Ride

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Oklahoma City Thunder guard, is having a career season as one of the N.B.A.’s top scorers. He’s had a little help from his childhood friends.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, left, with his friend and personal manager, Mark Castillanes. They met in elementary school.Credit...Nick Oxford for The New York Times

Mark Daigneault thought he had his first day in Hamilton, Ontario, all mapped out: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the star guard he coaches on the Oklahoma City Thunder, would make his morning rounds to shoot hoops and lift weights, and Daigneault would ride along.