Thunder and Spurs Got Heated After an OKC Player Caught an Elbow in the Chin

The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs 146-132 on Sunday. Jalen Williams scored 41 points and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 for the Thunder as they won their third straight game.

While the Thunder pulled away in the fourth quarter to win comfortably things did get a bit chippy in the third quarter when the game was still in doubt. Julian Champagnie had the ball while being guarded by Kenrich Williams when he swung his elbows to get some space. Williams did not appreciate it and some serious holding, hugging and shoving erupted. Every player on the floor, plus a number of coaches quickly got involved.

At least one referee and one assistant coach went flying during the fracas. By the time it was all sorted out Williams and Champagnie were both ejected with "fighting technicals." Lu Dort was also given a technical and tossed because he got into it with Jeremy Sochan, who was called for a technical, but got to stay and apparently smile at Dort as he headed to the locker room.

Here's another look:

Big scrum just broke out here after what appears to be Lu Dort and Jeremy Sochan getting into it. pic.twitter.com/a4AwoBul0H
— Joel Lorenzi (@jxlorenzi) March 3, 2025

After the game Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said his team was frustrated with the "cumulative effect of the pummeling" his squad has taken this season. He also took issue with what he feels is a double-standard that resulted in Dort's ejection because he was thrown out for something he said.

Mark Daigneault on the altercation that got Dort, Kenrich and Champagnie ejected:

“We haven’t been a team that’s retaliated very much. We retaliated tonight.”

Said James Williams ejected Lu for “something he said, which is fair game. … the issue I have with that is, I’ve… pic.twitter.com/3LCxnxLSy4
— Joel Lorenzi (@jxlorenzi) March 3, 2025

"If that's the standard, apply it across every situation," said Daigneault. "Some nights they say we're calibrating, we're calibrating to the emotions of the game, we're using our soft skills and all this stuff, it's like if that's an ejection, the other things should be technical fouls. Plain and simple."

With Victor Wembanyama coming back next year, hopefully better than ever, the Spurs should find themselves in a legitimate position to be a threat to the Thunder, who are currently the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Between the proximity of their cities, this accumulation of bad blood and fact that the Thunder are where the Spurs want to be, these two teams are set up for a nice rivalry the next few years.