NBA Issues Two Suspensions, Multiple Fines After Wizards-Thunder Fight Spilled Into Stands

The Thunder and Wizards took the court on Saturday for what was billed as a relatively sleepy weekend affair between the best team in the NBA and one of the worst. But late in the second quarter, Ajay Mitchell and Justin Champagnie provided serious fireworks.

The tomfoolery began with fewer than 30 seconds remaining in the first half. After an Oklahoma City bucket, center Jaylin Williams got into a small shoving match with Champagnie as the latter tried to grab the basketball to inbound it. Washington wing Bilal Coulibaly walked over to try to defuse the situation, but Mitchell took offense to the encroachment on his teammate’s space and gave Champagnie a hearty shove of his own after walking over. In the process of doing so Champagnie appeared to hit Mitchell in the face, and everything blew up from there.

Mitchell tried to charge through Coulibaly to get at Champagnie and caused the fight to spill into the front row at Capital One Arena. At that point a melee ensued as every other player on the floor entered the fray. As the action died down reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the one who dragged Mitchell away.

Justin Champagnie and Ajay Mitchell get into it 😳pic.twitter.com/ecjEvMay2R
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 21, 2026

Mitchell even fell right on to a cameraman.

Ajay Mitchell fell right into the cameraman during the fight. 😳

(h/t @ohnohedidnt24)

pic.twitter.com/rKa7vbn9B5 https://t.co/JHdusyJaol
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) March 21, 2026

It didn’t seem like any punches were thrown but it was quite the fracas. When it was all said and done four players were ejected.

Mitchell and Champagnie, obviously, got the boot straight away. They were followed by two players from the Thunder side—Williams and Cason Wallace. It is hard to see what went down in the scuffle that led to the final two ejections, but we can glean some info from the above video.

Williams had a role in sparking the conflict. But any ejection-worthy actions might have come from the combined efforts of him and Wallace to push the scrum into the stands. The center can be seen driving a Washington player into the pile from the left, while Wallace came flying in like he was participating in an NBA version of the tush push by driving his body into the back of the pile and pumping his legs. It’s unclear what their objective was but the end result was quite clear.

Afterwards, play resumed and the Thunder took a five-point lead into the locker room. Gilgeous-Alexander led all scorers with 20 points. Mitchell had 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting before getting tossed.

Another eventful night in the Association.

The NBA announced suspensions and fines for members of the Thunder and Wizards on Sunday

Mitchell and Champagnie were each hit with one-game suspensions without pay for the altercation, NBA executive vice president James Jones announced in a league release Sunday.

Per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the suspension will cost Mitchell $17,241 and Champagnie $13,503.

Additionally, Williams was fined $50,000, while Wallace and Wizards forward Gill were fined $35,000 after the skirmish.

Champagnie will miss Washington’s Sunday trip to face the Knicks, while Mitchell is set to serve his suspension on Monday for Oklahoma City’s road game against the 76ers.

More NBA from Sports Illustrated

Listen to SI’s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.

Add us as a preferred source on Google