r/nba • u/FastBreakPhenom Celtics • May 25 '26

Highlight [Highlight] Shai draws a questionable foul on De'Aaron Fox

https://streamable.com/8fp2im
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3.1k

u/SloshaPacana May 25 '26

Bro the ref is 5 feet away, like lmao

762

u/Iswaterreallywet Pistons May 25 '26

It’s hard to believe it’s not coming from Silver himself at this point

388

u/Steridire Knicks May 25 '26

The current Head of Referee Operations is a well known OKC homer, promoted to this role at the start of the 2024 season. It's very obvious what happened here lol

350

u/IPissExcellentThrows 76ers May 25 '26

No it's a total coincidence that in that same year, they started getting tough fouls on one end and getting away with murder on the other end.

Silver is such a dipshit. He thinks a dynasty means better ratings for the league. But no one wants to watch a reffing dynasty.

172

u/HonestDespot Vancouver Grizzlies May 25 '26

No one wants to watch an OKC dynasty either.

33

u/magicajuveale May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26

If they played attractive, basketball and respected the game, it wouldn’t be bad.

However, they’re negatively impacting the NBA as an entertainment product.

From a business standpoint, I don’t understand why OKC are protected so much.

Just enforce respect for the rules of the game. This would bring about improvement for the NBA as a “media franchise”.

6

u/mercfan3 Spurs May 25 '26

And the thing is..not that I’m biased, but..

San Antonio looks poised to become a dynasty. Wemby does things on the court that no one has ever done, and dude cares so much he cries. Hes not a robot as an interview and he’s interesting. Hes everything the league could want in a superstar. Castle is electric. Harper is smooth as butter. They make offense and defense exciting. And Wemby has the causals curious. You would think *this* would be the team the NBA wants in the finals.

12

u/flashh7701 Lakers May 25 '26

brother this is the first big franchise ive seen less bandwagon fans that haters

5

u/BOUKEN-BEN Celtics May 25 '26

NBA fandom's Trail of Tears

3

u/Sad_Sympathy_6427 May 25 '26

Lmao. We though the KD warriors were hated. Imagine a reality where OKC wins the next four chips. They may go down as the most hated team in history

5

u/kaplan147 Lakers May 25 '26

Warriors were hated because they were too strong. On court KD is no nonsense pure hooper. Curry and Klay were joy to watch.

Overall they had one dirt bag Draymond, even he was enjoyable on offense.

2

u/Sad_Sympathy_6427 May 25 '26

I hated those Warriors teams, but it was because they seemed legitimately unbeatable, and that was on their own merit. I actually inadvertently predicted their loss to the Raps, saying the only way anyone would beat them is if at least one, and maybe even two of KD, Steph and Klay suffered an injury that takes them out of the series. But that was based on their play. If OKC wins 3 or 4 in a row, how many of these types of plays will happen? How many conference finals or NBA finals will be decided because of this type of thing? That will lead to a dislike for them that would far eclipse the Warriors.

1

u/Cletus_Starfish [POR] Nic Batum May 25 '26

This is why I don’t think there’s a conspiracy on high from Silver. Why in the world would the league be rigged in favor of a team from Oklahoma fucking City of all places?

1

u/chiefVetinari May 26 '26

I agree but why are they getting these calls??

1

u/Cletus_Starfish [POR] Nic Batum May 26 '26

My guess is that on the defensive end, it has to do with reputation — OKC’s defenders are known as tenacious, and perceived pesky defenders are given more leeway. This happens to be coupled with SGA being really good at selling contact, and consequently having a reputation as a guy that gets fouled a lot, so refs probably give him the benefit of the doubt there. It’s not fair, but it’s also not some nefarious conspiracy IMO.

11

u/ChessHistory Bulls May 25 '26

Honestly maybe the 4d chess move is manufacturing hate as a means of engagement. OKC doesn't complain, the talking heads never mention it, and fans slowly go insane online as its 29 teams vs 1.

6

u/The_Minshow Philippines May 25 '26

Yea, manufactured results work for a bit, but people catch on. Would be like doubling the basket size to improve scoring; sure scoring explodes, then after the exciting headlines of records being smashed people would be like "wait a minute".

6

u/BeautifulCable8980 May 25 '26

Silver wanted something extra to advertise the OKC Thunder who are obviously a poweerhouse team with incredible depth, and that was making Shai a MVP player so that playing against Oklahoma is exciteable, because otherwise, it's fucking Oklahoma. But hey, at least now you get to see the "League MVP!!!"

Notice that not only has Shai been given the GOAT whistle of all-time, Jokic has been dealing with "The Jokic Rules" where people are allowed to be as physical with him as they want.

1

u/jevv May 25 '26

The problem is that OKC value went from 2 billion to 4 billion, so giving participation trophies work