While Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to rise to super stardom with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the 25-year-old star now must find a new dream home after some strange developments.
This past May, Gilgeous-Alexander and his girlfriend moved into their dream lakefront home in the Canadian province of Ontario for $6.1 million US ($8.4 million in Canadian dollars), per Nicole Brockbank of CBC.
The home, located in Lake Ontario in Burlington, belonged to well-known Crypto King Aiden Pleterski. But according to Brockbank, Gilgeous-Alexander and his girlfriend had to quickly move out following a creepy encounter with an unhappy visitor.
Now, Gilgeous-Alexander is suing with the hope of nixing the mansion purchase:
“A couple of days after Canadian professional basketball player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander moved into his $8.4 million lakefront mansion this spring, he allegedly received a threatening visit from a stranger demanding the whereabouts of Ontario’s self-proclaimed Crypto King: Aiden Pleterski.
Pleterski, 24, had previously been leasing to own the Burlington, Ont., property for about $45,000 a month — until his cryptocurrency and foreign exchange investment operation unravelled last year as investors came looking for the more than $40 million they’d given him.
Gilgeous-Alexander claims he’d never heard of Pleterski before the man showed up at his door….
It wasn’t until Gilgeous-Alexander’s girlfriend called the police and discovered there had been several previous reports of threats at the home — including a threat to burn it down — that they started to learn about Pleterski’s history with the property, according to court records.”
Via Brockbank, the lawsuit alleges that the sellers “fraudulently misrepresented” the mansion by failing to report the threats.
Pleterski, 24, declared bankruptcy earlier this year. Per Brockbank, Pleterski was reportedly kidnapped and brutally attacked after moving out of the home. Five men were subsequently charged with the kidnapping.
In the 2021 offseason, Gilgeous-Alexander signed a lucrative five-year extension with the Thunder worth $172 million. The Toronto native was drafted in the first round (11th overall) by the Charlotte Hornets in 2018 before being flipped to the Los Angeles Clippers.
After his rookie year, Gilgeous-Alexander was traded to the Thunder as part of the package deal that brought future Hall of Famer Paul George over to Los Angeles. Gilgeous-Alexander has emerged as the franchise face in OKC, averaging 31.4 points per game last year.