Thunder forward Luguentz Dort and Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears have been fined $25K apiece for their roles in an altercation at the end of Tuesday’s game between the two teams, the NBA announced today in a press release (Twitter link).
With the Pelicans trailing the Thunder by a score of 104-95, Fears grabbed an offensive rebound on a missed three-point attempt in the game’s final seconds and attempted to put up a shot. He appeared to be fouled by Dort, but no call was made, and the two players got tangled up, with Dort shoving Fears and both players grabbing one another’s jerseys “in an aggressive manner,” per the league (Twitter video link via Bleacher Report).
“I think that’s a foul on Dort,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said after the game, per Rod Walker of NOLA.com. “If it was, they should put a whistle on that play regardless of the score and the time. Because if they do that, everybody stops playing and you legislate the situation as you normally would. But because they didn’t put a whistle on it, it’s the end of the game and they can do nothing about it and you end up with that situation.”
Players and coaches from both teams came onto the floor and separated the two players to prevent the dispute from escalating. Fears was escorted off the floor by a Pelicans security officer and Jordan Dumars, the son of head of basketball operations Joe Dumars, according to Walker (Twitter video link).
While $25K doesn’t represent a significant percentage of either player’s salary, the fine will impact Fears, a rookie, a little more than it will affect the seventh-year veteran Dort. Fears is earning roughly $7.5MM in his first NBA season, while Dort’s 2025/26 salary is $18.2MM.