Reggie Jackson tweets smirking shot after Thunder lose Game 7
At 11:26 p.m. ET on Monday, the Golden State Warriors finished off a 96-88 victory in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals to send them to their second straight NBA Finals, where they’ll once again meet up with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers — this time, featuring healthy and fully functioning fellow stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. At 11:28 p.m. ET — just two minutes after the final buzzer — Reggie Jackson, who spent the first 3 1/2 years of his NBA career with the Oklahoma City Thunder before leaving town via trade on some unfriendly terms — offered this:
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😏
— Reggie Jackson (@Reggie_Jackson) May 31, 2016
Why, you ask, might the Detroit Pistons point guard deploy the smirking face emoji moments after the Thunder’s loss? Well, there have been hard feelings between Jackson and the Thunder since the run-up to the Boston College product’s departure at the 2015 trade deadline in a three-team deal that landed Enes Kanter in Oklahoma City. From Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman:
Rather famously, Jackson and the Thunder went through a sour break-up last season. He wanted a starting role, to be the star of a team, and that was something OKC couldn’t offer. For months, Jackson was vocal about it both inside and outside the locker room, creating a growing divide within a frustrated team. He’d write ‘SPG’ on his shoes, for starting point guard, even with [Russell] Westbrook on his team.
In early January 2015, the Thunder traded for Dion Waiters— a clear Jackson replacement. And at the time of the deal, it was initially reported that Jackson was off to New York. He heard the news while on a road trip at Golden State and initially said he was relieved. But it wasn’t true. Jackson remained on the team for another acrimonious month until eventually the Thunder obliged, shipping him to Detroit in February.
During their first meeting this season, the Thunder beat the Pistons at home. After the game, when asked about Jackson, Westbrook said ‘Who?’ before referring to him as “just another player on another team.”
The intra-squad beef continued to broil in a variety of ways — including, apparently, a squabble with Westbrook over whether or not a reporter could be allowed to sit in a chair in the OKC locker room — and when Jackson finally did get jettisoned to Detroit, the Thunder didn’t seem especially heartbroken about it. From Royce Young of ESPN.com:
There was no send-off for Jackson. Not hard to read between those lines. And if they were still blurred, here’s what [Kevin] Durant said Thursday night after the Thunder waxed the [Dallas] Mavericks without Jackson:
“We felt like everybody wanted to be here except for one guy,” he said. […]
Jackson may elevate into an All-Star-caliber player. He has massive potential, a dogged work ethic and an especially strong belief in himself. He simply couldn’t be the player he saw himself as with the Thunder.
As Durant said Thursday, “He got what he wanted. You can’t really –.” He paused for a second to think. But he’d already said all that needed to be said.
“He got what he wanted,” he repeated.
The angst rolled over into this past season, when the Pistons knocked off a Durant- and Serge Ibaka-less Thunder team in late March, with Jackson putting a bit of extra stank on the celebration of the six-point win:
Thunder center Steven Adams didn’t much care for Jackson’s approach:
Steven Adams on the Jackson celebration: “Says a lot about him” pic.twitter.com/o2o3C0w3WP
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 30, 2016
Neither did Westbrook, who termed Jackson’s histrionics “some real bulls***” and said Jackson “wasn’t changing nothing for us” before his trade:
Russell Westbrook on the Reggie Jackson celebration: “It was some real bullsh**” pic.twitter.com/tSS6os9bKY
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 30, 2016
More Russell Westbrook on Reggie Jackson. Animosity is growing pic.twitter.com/I50mmS3Rx7
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 30, 2016
Shortly thereafter, Durant offered a similarly jaundiced view of Jackson’s antics, according to ESPN.com’s Young:
“It was bush league, in my opinion,” Durant said Thursday following the team’s shootaround. “Jumping up and down, running around. I understand you’re happy you won the game, but our whole team didn’t play. We would’ve beat the hell out of them if it did.” […]
“I wanted to play against Detroit, for sure, but you know, it’s Detroit,” Durant said. “Who cares about Detroit?”
With Jackson and All-Star center Andre Drummond leading the way, the Pistons made the playoffs this season for the first time since 2009. They lost to the Cavaliers in the first round in a competitive but brief four-game sweep, while Durant, Westbrook and the Thunder knocked off the 67-win San Antonio Spurs in Round 2 before pushing the best regular-season team of all time/defending NBA champions to a winner-take-all seventh game before falling short.
Seeing your season end five weeks and two rounds earlier than your former ‘mates, though, doesn’t mean you can’t get this Twitter shade off real quick. The Thunder didn’t figure to need much extra motivation to dial it up an extra notch or two when they next meet Detroit during the 2016-17 season, but, well, they have it now.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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