Raptors Join the Bucks-Pacers Fued With Tweet Poking Fun At Conference Rivals

The Toronto Raptors have decided to join in this brewing feud between the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks.

In typical NBA fashion, the drama of this saga is ridiculous. Giannis Antetokounmpo was upset the Pacers took the game ball Wednesday night following his career-high 64-point performance. Indiana wanted to give the ball to Oscar Tshiebwe who scored his first NBA point in the game. There was a brief skirmish for the ball post-game and now conspiracies swirling about who actually has the real game ball.

“I have a ball, but I don’t know if it’s the game ball,” Antetokounmpo told reporters post-game. “It doesn’t feel like the game ball to me. It feels like a brand-new ball. I can tell, I played, what, 35 minutes today? I know how the game ball felt. The ball that I have, which I will take, and I’ll give it to my mom, for sure, but I don’t know if it’s the game ball.”

Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan was apparently elbowed in the ribs during the fight over the ball, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said post-game.

See, it’s madness.

Toronto decided to jump in on the controversy Thursday afternoon with a post to X, formerly Twitter, sharing a video in which Raptors coach Darko Rajaković hands the game ball from Wednesday night's game to Dennis Schröder after the Raptors guard reached the 10,000-point mark for his career. The post is captioned “Had to secure the game ball for (Schröder)” with a laughing emoji added for good measure.

Had to secure the game ball for @DS17_FG 😅

Open Gym: Moment presented by @Bell pic.twitter.com/0JJ2FHjSgZ
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) December 14, 2023

If there’s any organization that knows about the importance of securing the game ball, it’s certainly Toronto. Kyle Lowry was notorious for snagging the ball no matter the situation. He sprinted over to grab the game ball after Kawhi Leonard nailed the Game 7 winner before embracing Leonard in 2019. After Toronto won the Finals that year, Lowry was the one with the ball post-game ready to celebrate.