Update: Crowning the *Official* Fresh Prince of OKC

Ever since Shai Gilgeous-Alexander captioned his Instagram photo with “Fresh Prince of OKC,” the identity of the true Fresh Prince of OKC has been hotly debated… at least at Daily Thunder. Some of you (“friends” of DT’s Brandon Rahbar) were content to just hand the title to Shai despite the insurmountable evidence in favor of Darius Bazley (presented by DT’s Olivia Panchal), but we at DT weren’t satisfied with mere conjecture. We decided to go straight to the source and ask the question that every single Thunder fan is dying to know: Who is the Fresh Prince of OKC? Olivia and Brandon sat down with Bazley and Gilgeous-Alexander, respectively, and we finally got our answer.

Olivia Panchal: Over at Daily Thunder, we’ve got a little bit of a debate going on over who the Fresh Prince of OKC is. It started when Shai posted an Instagram with “Fresh Prince of OKC” as the caption, but I actually think it’s you. You’ve got the look and I hear you’re a big fan of the TV show. What do you think?

Darius Bazley: I mean… so Shai can definitely dress, but he’s not the Fresh Prince. He doesn’t have that 90s style that I do.

OP: That’s exactly what I said!

DB: Yeah, don’t get me wrong, Shai can dress, but it’s not the Will Smith style.

OP: We’re going to ask Shai the same question. Do you want to defend your title? You also got here first, technically.

DB: He knows he’s not!

OP: So, it’s fair to say that from this point forward we should refer to you as the Fresh Prince of OKC?

DB: Yeah.

Brandon Rahbar: We did a story on our site about who the Fresh Prince of OKC is (you or Bazley) because you both have a claim. Did you know when you posted that caption that fans would attach to it and it would take off like that?

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: I couldn’t think of a caption [to update my profile] after the trade, and [my friend] was like, “Put this one up there.”

BR: Oh, so you didn’t even come up with it? *Brandon starts visibly sweating* That’s funny. Are you embracing the role? Or are you just like “Oh my buddy posted that”?

SGA: It’s cool, I guess. It is what it is.

BR: We asked Bazley and he said you can dress, but you don’t have the 90s style. Is that true?

SGA: I cannot dress like Bazley at all, and I don’t want to, to be honest. I wouldn’t say he’s better dressed than me. I’d just say he’s just got the 90s vibe down.

BR: Are you ready to say Bazley’s the Fresh Prince, then?

SGA: Fresh Prince in terms of the 90s, yeah I guess Bazley [takes it]. Baze can be the Fresh Prince.

There you have it, folks. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, himself, has crowned Darius Bazley the one, true Fresh Prince of OKC.

Olivia: Hearing SGA call Bazley the Fresh Prince of OKC is honestly so liberating. I have spent a good chunk of my young life trying to bring justice to Darius Bazley. Now, I feel like the many hours I spent researching the history of New Balance and scrolling way too far back on Bazley’s Twitter feed were not for nothing. People on Twitter laughed at me, but #TeamBazley has finally been vindicated. From this day forward, this website will only recognize Darius Bazley as the Fresh Prince of OKC.

Brandon: You have no idea how deflating it was when I asked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander straight to his face if he or Bazley was the Fresh Prince, and he looked me in the eye and casually replied, “Baze can be the Fresh Prince.” Because I didn’t hear “Baze can be the Fresh Prince.” Instead, I saw Olivia’s face atop Shai’s sweaty post-practice basketball body and all I heard was “Bahahahaha in your face!!!”

Look, just because SGA himself said it, it doesn’t make it true. Dare I say, it’s princely behavior to deflect your own royal highness. Think about all the princes and princesses throughout history who have lied about their royal blood and deflected it to someone unworthy of the title. The Prince traded places with the Pauper. Princess Jasmine claimed to be a peasant and that her handmaiden was the true princess. Jon Snow had royal blood in his veins his entire life and had no idea. And, most damaging to Olivia’s argument, Prince Akeem hid the fact he was a prince and let his best buddy Arsenio Hall pretend to be the rightful heir to Zamunda’s throne. Bazley is Shai’s best buddy. All I need to do now is find out which McDowell’s Shai is mopping floors at, and this argument’s a wrap.