Christmas has come and gone, but the season for giving gifts is still very much alive and well in the NBA.
Wizards center Thomas Bryant must have forgotten to buy anything for the Orlando Magic during their Christmas shopping, but luckily it’s never too late to fix a mistake, as Bryant corrected the situation by offering a bucket to Magic during Saturday’s game. .
Evan Fournier from Orlando must have been on the Nice List this year. He was credited with the bucket as the player closest to the rim when the ball entered. The Magic would win, 130-120, with Bryant hitting 8 out of 11 on the field with 19 points (21 if you count a timed pail).
Scoring in the opponent’s basket happens occasionally, but I don’t remember seeing a player bury on the wrong rim, let alone a jam that’s as impressive as Bryant’s. In their defense, the game took place at the beginning of the third period, so the two teams had just switched sides. Perhaps this is where the confusion really lies.
Bryant has come a long way in his still young NBA career. He went from a choice in the second round, which failed to get minutes playing for the losing Lakers team in 2017-18, to a bona fide starter center in Washington, who averaged 11.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in the last two seasons. He will have better days ahead, and one day he will probably laugh at his own deception, but for now he will have to endure the dubious honor feared by the rest of the NBA: a participation in “Shaqtin ‘a Fool.”