Christmas has come and gone, but the gift season is still very much alive and well in the NBA.
Wizards center Thomas Bryant must have forgotten to get anything for the Orlando Magic during his holiday shopping, but thankfully it’s never too late to go wrong, as Bryant rectified the situation by taking a bucket for the Magic during Saturday’s game.
Orlando ‘s Evan Fournier must have been on the Nice List this year. He was credited with the bucket as the player closest to the circle when the ball went in. The Magic won, 130-120, as Bryant shot 8-for-11 from the field with 19 points (21 if you count this as a bad- timed bucket).
Scoring an opponent’s basket does happen from time to time, but I don’t remember ever seeing a player dunk on the wrong circle, not to mention it will be a jam put back as impressive as Bryant. In his defense, the play happened early in the third quarter, so both teams had just turned the heads of the court. Maybe that’s where the upheaval is.
Bryant has come a long way in his still young NBA career. He has gone from a second-round pick that couldn’t get minutes playing for a Lakers team that lost in 2017-18 to a bona fide starting point for Washington that averaged 11.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game over on the last two seasons. He’ll have better days ahead, and one day he seems to be even laughing at his own mistake, but for now he has to stand the dubious honor that the rest of the NBA fears: view of “Shaqtin ‘a Fool. “