Chris Paul is pretty much always aware of what’s going on, so there was no chance that the Thunder point guard was going to miss a referee telling Knicks point guard Elfrid Payton that he could “thank Chris Paul” for getting a delay of game violation when he checked into Sunday night’s game against the Nuggets while tucking in his jersey.
The play happened with 4:11 left in the first quarter and Denver leading 16-12.
Payton looked at the ref and raised his hands when the whistle blew.
The courtside mics clearly caught the ref telling Payton “y’all can thank Chris Paul for that”.
"You can thank Chris Paul"
The ref told Elfrid Payton to thank CP3 for getting a delay of game for having an untucked jersey 💀 pic.twitter.com/VD0bzxnlbw
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 16, 2019
HouseofHighlights posted the clip on their Instagram, which drew a response from CP3. Paul tagged Payton along with three crying laughing emojis and a shrug emoji.
The ongoing untucked jersey saga in the NBA started when Paul called out Jordan Bell for checking into the Thunder’s game against Minnesota with an untucked jersey on December 7.
Bell was whistled for a delay of game violation, which led to technical free throws for Oklahoma City. A wild sequence of events followed that allowed OKC to tie the game on buzzer-beater from Dennis Schroder. The Thunder went on to beat Minnesota in overtime.
Paul was then called for two delay of game violations two days later in Oklahoma City’s game against the Trail Blazers.
It is an NBA rule that all players must have their jerseys tucked in when they enter a game.