All About Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Parents, Charmaine Gilgeous and Vaughn Alexander

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's parents have helped him achieve his NBA dreams.

Charmaine Gilgeous and Vaughn Alexander welcomed their first son, Shai, in July 1998. Their family grew again in December 2000 with the arrival of their second son, Thomasi. The former couple have since divorced.

While they were growing up, Vaughn helped coach his sons and nephew Nickeil Alexander-Walker, encouraging them to be competitive with one another.

"I love ball. I watch a lot of ball. I made them watch a lot of ball," he said on The YAAACE Time podcast in June 2024. "They always had that love for the game, and I felt it was my duty to pay it forward because I know the game, and I knew if I taught them the right way, they'd get something from ball."

Shai and Nickeil were drafted into the NBA in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and now Shai is a point guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder, while Nickeil plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves. The cousins will go head-to-head in the 2025 Western Conference Finals, which starts with Game 1 on May 20.

Before the match-up began, Nickeil told reporters that his mom texted Shai's dad, "Oh, it's war now."

Here's everything to know about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's parents, Charmaine Gilgeous and Vaughn Alexander.

Charmaine is a former Olympic athlete

Before she became a mom of two, Charmaine was a superstar sprinter.

At age 21, she represented her country, Antigua and Barbuda, at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where she competed in the 400-meter dash. Her fastest recorded time in the race was 55.48 seconds.

Shai and Thomasi learned what it takes to reach the next level in a sport from their mom.

"She’s always instilled confidence and hard work in us," Shai said in a 2020 Mother's Day tribute to Charmaine.

Charmaine and Vaughn have two sons and a nephew who play basketball

Charmaine and Vaughn became parents for the first time when they welcomed their son, Shai, on July 12, 1998. Two years later, Shai became a big brother with the arrival of Thomasi in December 2000. Charmaine and Vaughn have since divorced, per The Athletic.

As kids, Shai and Thomasi spent a lot of time with their cousin Nickeil, and they still consider the Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard a "second brother."

For their junior and senior years of high school, Shai and Nickeil moved to Chattanooga, Tenn., to play for Hamilton Heights Christian Academy, per the Lexington Herald-Leader. There, they shared a room in their coach's home.

“Ate all meals, did everything together," their coach Zach Ferrell told the publication. "There’s probably nothing about Nickeil that Shai doesn’t know and there’s nothing about Shai that Nickeil doesn’t know."

Shai played college basketball at the University of Kentucky for one season before going pro in 2018. Nickeil played for Virginia Tech for two seasons before being drafted in 2019.

Meanwhile, Thomasi played at the University of Evansville for two seasons, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College for one season and Santa Monica College for one season.

Vaughn coached Shai when he was young

Vaughn, who was a high school basketball star in Toronto, taught his sons and nephew how to play basketball.

During an appearance on The YAAACE Time podcast in June 2024, Vaughn recalled encouraging Shai and Nickeil, who are only weeks apart in age, to engage in a healthy rivalry.

"It was fun. My biggest thing with them, I always wanted them to go at each other because that's how I got better [in basketball] — playing against older kids or guys that were better than me," he said.

Vaughn continued, "Nickeil, in the earlier stages, was naturally super gifted. What I told [Shai] was, 'You gotta catch up to Nickeil.' At the same time, I'm telling Nickeil, 'Don't let this guy catch you.' Along the way, they're warring and making each other better."

Shai has paid tribute to his mom

Shai has a close bond with his mom — and never forgets to give Charmaine a sweet shout-out on Mother's Day.

"Happy Mother’s Day to the best mom in the world. thanks for everything you’ve done from carrying my big head for 9 months to calling me 15 time a day, even tho I’m grown... enjoy ur day mommy," he wrote on Instagram in 2018.

More recently, following the Oklahoma City Thunder's win against the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals, Shai mentioned his mom in a post-game interview, which happened to fall on Mother's Day 2025.

"Moms are the best," he told ESPN. "Without them, we'd be nothing."

Vaughn has a basketball nonprofit

In 2024, Vaughn launched the No Flukes Foundation — a nonprofit organization supporting the Toronto-area basketball community through "financial, emotional and educational resources."

"No opting for less, unified knowledge equals success. Every letter has an acronym, and that's what it stands for," Vaughn shared in a video on Instagram in June 2024.

He continued, saying, "I'm just here to give back to the community, and let people know that it works when you work hard. There's no luck in anything that we get right now. It's all about hard work. If you believe it, you can make it."

Charmaine and Vaughn are supportive of Shai's basketball career 

In March 2025, Vaughn appeared on the Gil's Arena podcast and defended his son against accusations that he's a "free throw merchant" — a.k.a. a player who intentionally gets fouled.

"If you ain’t doing nothing, nobody’s talking about you, right?" Vaughn said. "You don’t have haters if you’re not doing something right. So at the end of the day, I look at it as just straight-up hate."

He continued, adding, "Drawing fouls is part of the game, and it's actually, it’s a skill. Look at [Allen] Iverson, Kobe [Bryant] and those guys that do it — they're trying to draw a foul."

Shai's parents are also proud of his basketball career — win or lose.

"My parents, they don't hype me up or turn me up for basketball games. But one thing [my mom] always taught me was, no matter what happens, she's going to love me," Shai said during a post-game interview in May 2025.

Their love "gives me the ability to go out there and not really care what happens," Shai added.

"The people that matter most in my life are going to treat me the same way no matter what happens out there," he said. "That gives me the ability to just trust my work, trust whatever happens, and be able to put a smile on my face at the end of the night, no matter what."