Philadelphia 76ers guard Kelly Oubre Jr. (9) attempts a shot against LA Clippers forward Paul George (13) as time runs out at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
One of the most viral moments of the 2023-24 NBA regular season was when Philadelphia 76ers forward Kelly Oubre Jr. absolutely cursed out the referees in a game against the Clippers.
During a March game between the LA Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers, Oubre launched a profanity-laced tirade against the referees after the 76ers lost a heartbreaking game against LA.
Now, over six months later, Oubre revealed his reasoning for why he blasted the referees the way that he did. During an episode of Podcast P, Oube surprisingly gave some of the blame to 76ers coach Nick Nurse.
"I blacked out, of course. Honestly, it was two basketball plays," Oubre said. Like yeah, we on opposing sides so I feel like we got fouled. Refs didn't call the foul. I wanted to win that game, you know the team wanted to win that game real bad. I'm not gonna blame coach, but he was on the court going crazy. So I'm like, yeah, like I'm finna go ride for my dog. Took it way too far."
Oubre claims that he apologized profusely to all the referees after the heated moment, but it didn't matter because he stopped receiving favorable calls for two weeks.
"I must have apologized to everybody leaving that arena. Right after it happened and I see myself on House of Highlights, I was like embarrassed for real man," Oubre said. "You know, I don't even remember those words coming out of me, going for them like that. And I ain't get no calls for like two weeks after that either. If Nurse didn't get fined $50k either, I wouldn't been on the island alone looking crazy."
The most ironic thing about the entire situation is that now Kelly Oubre Jr. and Paul George are teammates together on the Philadelphia 76ers.
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