Chris Paul was elected as the president of the National Basketball Players Association in 2013. It’s no surprise then that he has a high IQ when it comes to the rules of the game.
In a December 2019 game while playing for the Thunder, he put that brain of his to great effect against the Timberwolves. Paul snitched on Jordan Bell for an untucked jersey and they ended up winning the game from an almost impossible situation.
With 1.1 seconds on the clock, The Timberwolves were up by two points and Karl Anthony Towns had two free throws to effectively ice the game. Towns missed the first free throw. Minnesota subbed in Jordan Bell who entered with an untucked jersey. Chris Paul yells “jersey untucked! That’s a delay of game”.
Chris Paul snitched on Jordan Bell for having an untucked jersey causing a delay of game.
The Timberwolves would end up making a free throw they tried to miss, leading to an OKC hail mary to force OT.
They then lost in overtime by 12. pic.twitter.com/DKEcrMWUS6
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) December 7, 2019
Referee Scott Foster called a tech foul on Bell and Danilo Gallinari made the free throw. Towns still had his one remaining free throw, so all he had to do was miss it and the Thunder would have had no chance with 1.1 seconds to score a basket.
Towns amazingly scored the basket by accident. From the inbound Steven Adams threw a hail mary ball to Dennis Schorder who scored a layup almost immediately and as the buzzer went off. The Thunder forced overtime in miraculous circumstances and went on to win the game 139-127 win.
ADAMS ➡️ SCHRODER AT THE BUZZER! 🚨
Thunder-Wolves headed to OT! #CrunchTime pic.twitter.com/TcKEltF4Ar
— NBA TV (@NBATV) December 7, 2019
Chris Paul had effectively won the game from an impossible situation all because of an untucked jersey. Paul knew of the NBA’s “tuck rule”.
In the rule book is “Rule #3 – Players, Substitutes and Coaches” which goes on to read that “a substitute must be ready to enter the game when beckoned. No delays for removal of warm-up clothing will be permitted”.
A technical foul can be given because of a delay of game violation and that’s exactly what Paul called for. Because Jordan Bell came into the game and wasn’t “ready”, he got called for the tech foul. You can imagine that Bell would have been pissed off after the game.
Jordan Bell declined to talk to reporters, walking out of the locker room after a couple requests. “I’ll save my money,” he said as he walked by reporters.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) December 7, 2019
But Paul kinda ruined it for the rest of the NBA though. NBA officials ignored the “tuck rule” until Paul brought it to everybody’s attention.
Not even two weeks after, Knicks guard Elfrid Payton was called for a tech foul as he entered the court while tucking in his jersey. Payton was bemused and the red told him “You can thank Chris Paul”.
Elfrid Payton gets delay of game for entering game with untucked jersey, ref tells him to thank Chris Paul. pic.twitter.com/qbWUnJyxNJ
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) December 16, 2019
Paul’s a bit of a snitch, but he’s a stickler for the rules and you can’t blame him with his National Basketball Players Association presidency role. Against the Blazers, Carmelo Anthony claps his hands and Paul is all too eager to highlight to the ref that he should be called for a tech foul. The referee of course, obliges.
Carmelo Anthony wins a national championship at Syracuse and gets a technical foul for pushing Darius Bazley, who at the last minute decommitted from Syracuse and skipped college. Thank you for your service Carmelo. Fight the good fight. https://t.co/MbR4IvZ6wH
— Joe Brisson (@joebrisson12) December 9, 2019
So there you have it. Lesson learnt. Keep your shirts tucked in. The NBA’s “tuck rule” will earn players a technical foul if somebody picks up on an untucked shirt.
