March 22, 2026, 11:00 a.m. CT
Sleepwalking their way to a close contest, the Oklahoma City Thunder received an injection of adrenaline to help them wake up in their 132-111 win over the Washington Wizards. A first-half altercation resulted in a handful of players getting kicked out.
Jaylin Williams and Justin Champagnie went face-to-face on a mundane inbounds pass. Both teams eventually needed to be separated. Before that happened, though, Ajay Mitchell was involved in the heart of the altercation.
Champagnie hit Mitchell in the face. The 23-year-old got heated over it. Before he could do anything wild, though, Anthony Gill jammed him into a deck of chairs. Once both sides were cleared, the referees took around 10 minutes to hand out some punishments.
Williams and Champagnie were hit with double technical fouls. They were both ejected. Mitchell and Cason Wallace also joined them in the locker rooms. The referees eventually said it was because they escalated things. At the end, the Thunder lost three rotation players while the Wizards only lost one.
Here’s what the Thunder said about the ruling, as they lost three rotation players while the Wizards only lost one:
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“I disagreed with their judgment after talking to them and watching at halftime. I worked with John Goble for a long time and he worked with me and we ended up agreeing to disagree. We both moved on. That’s all I can say about it.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
“I was pretty confused as a lot happened. Honestly, I still haven’t seen it. So I don’t know who was deserving of what. I guess refs watched it a few times, made a call. I knew, regardless, we were going to have to focus back in and get back to playing basketball and try to win a basketball game.”
Isaiah Hartenstein
“I think it was unlucky. I think anytime, from my point of view, gets punched or hooked in the face, you have to stand up for one another. I don’t really think all three guys should get ejected. I don’t think any of them should’ve gotten ejected. At the end of the day, that’s the ref’s job to make sure it doesn’t get to that point. We just have to trust the refs and go from there.”
“Every time we play, I think there’s a chip on the other team’s shoulder. There are just certain situations we have to navigate and situations we have to trust the referee to adapt. Make sure it doesn’t get to that point. We’re also not going to back down against anything. I think it’s a combination of things. I don’t put anyone at fault in that.”