When Luka Doncic went down on Thursday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder, a fan on the baseline began heckling. Austin Reaves immediately went back at him, telling the fan to “Have some f****** respect.” Reaves and the fan went back and forth, and neither party was backing down.
Obviously, the game didn’t go too well for the Lakers, as the Thunder went on to win the game by a monster score of 139-96. It was LA’s third loss of the season against OKC, and the two sides will square off again on April 7. But their time on the court facing off may not be over when the regular season ends.
They could meet again in the postseason.
The Thunder are all but locked in to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference—a space they have occupied for the entirety of this NBA season, thanks to their huge start.
The San Antonio Spurs are two games back of OKC (and own the tiebreaker), but it would still be a tough hill for them to climb if they wanted to dethrone the Thunder atop the West.
However, the Lakers aren’t necessarily locked into the three seed yet. The Denver Nuggets are just one game behind LA, and with Doncic’s injury now factoring in, anything could happen.
If the Thunder stay at one and the Lakers slide to four, they could end up meeting each other in the second round of the playoffs. And based on Reaves’ interaction with that Thunder fan, it doesn’t feel as though there would be any love lost between the two organizations.
Obviously, one fan saying one out-of-place thing isn’t enough to spark a rivalry between the players, but Reaves won’t forget. And he definitely wasn’t too pleased with the OKC fanbase that night.
Nobody on the Thunder was responsible for Doncic’s injury. It looked like he just tweaked his hamstring on his own accord while trying to get into the flow of the offense.
However, the disrespect that the Thunder fans showed Doncic was out of hand. And Reaves clearly didn’t take it well. It’s likely that nobody on the Lakers did.
So, if the Lakers and Thunder do end up meeting in the playoffs, that interaction will undoubtedly be in the back of Reaves’ mind. And it may be in the back of everyone’s minds on the Lakers roster.
Keep an eye on that, because it could create quite the rivalry come playoff time.