An altercation late in the first half of Saturday’s game between the Thunder and Wizards resulted in four ejections (Twitter video link from Bleacher Report).
According to Joel Lorenzi and Josh Robbins of The Athletic, it started as a dispute between Washington’s Justin Champagnie and Oklahoma City’s Jaylin Williams that quickly involved several other players. Ajay Mitchell began exchanging words and shoves with Champagnie along the baseline, and the battle spilled into the courtside seats under the basket.
“I’ve never seen him like that,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said of Mitchell. “But at the same time, I’m not really surprised by his reaction. He’s a tough kid, tough as nails. Not only on the court, but off the court as well. He’s as tough as they come, so I knew there’d be no back down when he’s involved in anything.”
After a long review by the officials, Champagnie and Williams were each given two technical fouls, which is an automatic ejection. Mitchell and the Thunder’s Cason Wallace were assessed one technical apiece and were also thrown out of the game.
In a pool report, crew chief John Goble explained that Champagnie and Williams each received one technical foul for pushing each other during a dead ball. Champagnie’s second technical was for making contact with Mitchell’s face, while Williams was T’d up for his actions during the fight.
Goble added that Mitchell and Wallace were tossed because they were not “acting as peacemakers” and were “escalating the altercation.”
The Wizards’ Anthony Gill appeared to shove Mitchell from behind, but Goble stated that no action was taken against him because Wallace pushed Gill into the scrum and it was “not observed that Gill did anything in an unsportsmanlike manner to assess a penalty.”
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said he’s “worked with John Goble a long time,” and they discussed the ejections before “agreeing to disagree.”
Wizards coach Brian Keefe was on the opposite side of the court and couldn’t see much of the scuffle, but he told reporters, “I just know that our guys stuck up for each other, which I always love.”
The authors note that Saturday’s incident was the third one involving the Thunder in the past few weeks. Luguentz Dort and Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears had a post-game altercation on January 27 that resulted in $25K fines for each of them, and Dort was ejected for tripping Denver center Nikola Jokic in late February, which prompted a face-to-face confrontation between Jokic and Williams.
“It’s a combination of things,” Isaiah Hartenstein replied when asked about the skirmishes. “We’re a physical team. Every time we play, I think there’s always a chip on the other team’s shoulder. We’re also not gonna back down against anything. I don’t really put anyone at fault for that — it just happens. We have a passionate group of guys, and every time we play, teams are coming with their best shot, and sometimes, it just gets physical.”
Saturday’s exchange is expected to result at least in fines and possibly suspensions. They’ll likely be announced before the Wizards play Sunday night in New York. Oklahoma City’s next game is Monday at Philadelphia.
Everyone, have a good Sunday and enjoy the beginning of spring.
…..autumn, if you’re in the other hemisphere.
I blame poisoned groundwater in the OK region. Congrats on your oil and gas boom.
New York too
There’s no reason for the Thunder to be letting the Wizards get them acting like this. One team is the defending champs who hope to be playing basketball in June. The other is tanking and just playing these games because they have to. Justin Champagnie has a contract for next year. He’s got nothing to lose by escalating the situation. The guys on the Thunder do. They’re not facing a fellow contender. They prove nothing by trying to be tough. Jaylin Williams should just take those bumps to the chest and laugh it off.
Nope OKC has a reason because people already tag them as nice guys. Let a weak ass team like Wiz try and bet the playoff teams will try to bully.
Soft ass Wizards should have had some of this when Bam was putting up 83 on them.
Once Miami started intentionally fouling to get Bam more possessions, the Wizards absolutely should have done something about it.
Thunder need to take a step back a realise the “tough guys” don’t win that often…
Tim Duncan vs KG…
As much as i love KG… Tim had the winners mentality… Poise and focus wins over letting your emotions get the better of you…
The other lesson of the story is… KGs antagonistic spirit has not left the game… This happens too often, teams will throw in a end of bench player to absorb a technical that pushes a top Thunder player over the suspension limit during the playoffs…
If you’re at or over the limit it’s nobody’s fault but your own.
Spot on. Great comparison.
That AJ Mitchell kid has an anger management issues, lol
Wiz showed no edge vs Bam though?
So OKC coach Daig has “worked with John Goble a long time”…
Tell us something we don’t know! (He was the crew chief in OKC’a pivotal game 5 of the 2025 Finals).
Paranoia
It’s unfortunate that one of the leagues elite teams has chosen to also be the dirtiest team in the league. Now they are transitioning to street fights. The league needs to rein them in or someone is going to get seriously injured at some point.
Oh my heavens.
Let em play. Someone will push back eventually.
Source: https://pr.nba.com
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell and Washington Wizards forward Justin Champagnie have each been suspended one game without pay for fighting and escalating an on-court altercation which spilled over into the spectator stands, it was announced today by James Jones, Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations.
Additionally, Oklahoma City forward Jaylin Williams has been fined $50,000 and Oklahoma City guard Cason Wallace and Washington forward Anthony Gill have been fined $35,000 each, for their respective roles in the altercation.
The incident occurred with 27 seconds remaining in the second quarter of the Thunder’s 132-111 win over the Wi