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Everyone Made the Same Jokes After Kevin Durant's Near-Timeout Snafu vs. Thunder
The Rockets quickly learned what life with forward Kevin Durant would be like against the Thunder Tuesday, watching the future Hall of Famer dazzle even at the advanced age of 37.
However, Durant almost cost Houston its opener in overtime. As time ran down in the first extra session, the Rockets forward appeared to call a timeout when Houston had none. Officials missed the gesture, and the game plunged into a second overtime.
On social media, sports fans immediately compared the play to a) the most famous timeout disaster in basketball history and b) sports' most recent available timeout fiasco.
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The first would be the 1993 men's national championship between North Carolina and Michigan, won by the Tar Heels after Wolverines forward Chris Webber called a phantom timeout in the waning seconds.
Kevin Durant nearly pulling a Chris Webber pic.twitter.com/My4EIPI2A6
— MOCskoden🏜️ (@MOCskoden) October 22, 2025
"We may have a Chris Webber moment here!"
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 22, 2025
The Rockets-Thunder NBA season opener and 'NBA on NBC' return heads to a second overtime. 🏀🦓📺🎙️ #NBA #NBC #NBAonNBC pic.twitter.com/60lSfXrSDV
Chris Webber watching KD in overtime vs OKC pic.twitter.com/YnRnEFZy6a
— Complex (@Complex) October 22, 2025
The second would be Georgia's gridiron win over Auburn on Oct. 11, during which Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart successfully (and comically) argued to a referee that a clear timeout signal was actually his natural clapping motion.
I personally think Kevin Durant was just clapping
— Shehan Jeyarajah (@ShehanJeyarajah) October 22, 2025
Kevin Durant, graduate of the Kirby Smart School for Clapping
— Hunter Shelton (@HunterShelton_) October 22, 2025
Durant wasn’t calling a timeout, he was clapping. pic.twitter.com/sSyhLbplAc
— Jeremy Branham (@JeremyBranham) October 22, 2025
Fortunately, Durant was able to avoid the humiliation of Webber's mishap and the durability of Smart's.
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Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .