Underdog Sports Defies Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Cease and Desist Over Parody Game
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had one of the more talked-about seasons in the NBA this year, drawing 415 fouls across the 2025-26 campaign. The conversation around his style of play has always been loud, but now it's moved into legal territory.
Gambling platform Underdog Sports received a cease-and-desist letter from Gilgeous-Alexander's legal team this week after launching a parody promotion called "Unethical Hoops" in partnership with Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks. The concept leaned into the fouling narrative around SGA, asking players to avoid touching a cartoon version of him during gameplay.
Brooks fronted the social media video pushing the game, with winners set to be announced on Friday. The letter claims Gilgeous-Alexander's publicity rights were violated and warns the company could face damages, legal costs, corrective advertising, and additional court remedies if things escalate further.
Underdog Refuses to Pull Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Parody Game
The demands in that letter are straightforward. Stop promoting the game immediately, destroy every existing copy and never use Gilgeous-Alexander's name, image, or likeness in any form of media without his direct approval. Underdog, for its part, doesn't appear to be moving.
The website has stayed active, and the company has made no public indication it plans to comply.
A spokesperson told Front Office Sports that the brand regularly engages with whatever is sitting at the center of sports conversation, referencing Knicks and Lakers fans and the owners of the Red Sox and Mets as examples of how they operate.
"Underdog is refusing to bend after an attorney for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sent a cease and desist about a promotional Underdog board game making fun of the MVP's 'foul baiting.' SGA's attorney wants all promotion of the game to stop. Underdog tells FOS it will not." Front Office Sports reported on X.
Exclusive: Underdog is refusing to bend after an attorney for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sent a cease and desist about a promotional Underdog board game making fun of the MVP's "foul bating."
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) May 28, 2026
SGA's attorney wants all promotion of the game to stop. Underdog tells FOS it will not.
The legal picture isn't entirely clear. The promotion was built as a parody and was never intended as a commercial product. Underdog reportedly had no plans to sell it. Where things got complicated was the moment the company tied it to a 100-copy giveaway as part of their marketing push.
A quick visual gag in the Brooks video probably disappears on its own. Turning it into a contest with actual distribution changes the calculus and gives SGA's team more ground to work with if this moves further.
As for the broader criticism of how Gilgeous-Alexander draws fouls, that debate has been running for a while.
Related: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Attorneys Send Cease-and-Desist Over Viral Promo
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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 12:18 PM.