"What a piece of sh*t": Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's trainer faces fans' wrath over 'gross' body-shaming post

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s rise to NBA superstardom also shone the spotlight on Nem Ilic, a highly-sought after private trainer. Ilic works behind the scenes to help SGA attain his current level of success. The trainer was once featured in Forbes for the unsung role he played in the point guard’s success.

Ilic was back in the limelight for the wrong reason on Thursday. He wrote a since-deleted story on Instagram:

“Lazy and fat, 2 things I’ll never understand. Your environment is everything. Shopping at Costco might make you think you’re not out of shape. The reality is, you’re comparing yourself to human whales. Remove yourself from that environment. This should disgust you enough to be better.”

Fans ripped the known trainer on X, formerly Twitter:

“SGA and NAW’s trainer on IG, jesus what a piece of s**t”

“These types of fitness people would definitely fall for the eugenics movement of the past” another fan said.

“they get lucky with their athletic genes and think everyone else just doesn’t work as hard as them.” One fan continued.

"Gross," another fan said.

One fan commented:

“Absolutely disgusting behavior!”

Another fan reacted:

“Wow. I legit know zero trainers that would do this or would find this motivating.”

Adding fuel to the controversy was the explanation from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s trainer:

“The picture I initially took was the “100% beef hot dog” part so obviously some faces were in there that shouldn’t have been. Mistake on my part.

“My message is simply that your weight and what you eat is the one thing you have control over so I just want to see better and to show why all that s**t is absolute poison.”

The OKC Thunder star has not commented on the issue hounding Nem Ilic.

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Nem Ilic customizes the workouts he designs for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has an inimitable style on the basketball court. He has a staccato rhythm with his movements and dribbling that makes him one of the toughest players to defend in the NBA.

Nem Ilic customized his workouts with SGA to build on his strengths. Here’s what the trainer had to say in the interview with Forbes last year:

“He finds gaps that most guys can’t, so to just rack on 30 pounds of muscle and to just go get big will change his game for the worse. So that was never my goal, never my intention with him.

“Let's get strong so you can continue to play how you play, and you're a stronger athlete doing it. Let's develop that core so you have the ability to do all the things that you do on a day-to-day basis. So my programming is based off of that exact idea.”

The customized workouts designed by Ilic have paid off. Some NBA analysts thought Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the MVP last season instead of Nikola Jokic. SGA has a good chance to lead the OKC Thunder to the championship this season.