This is a case of incredibly amazing timing.
Shortly after Kyrie Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers knocked off Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day, the Oklahoma City Thunder shared the following video on their various social media accounts:
At first glance, it’s nothing out of the ordinary: just a team promoting one of its players as an All-Star candidate and sharing a little pregame warm-up video. But if you crank the volume, you’ll probably notice Westbrook yelling something at the very end — something that sounds an awful lot like, “Thank you, Kyrie!”
After the video was released to the public, several Thunder reporters asked Westbrook about the clip. The Oklahoma City point guard was none too pleased, saying that he was shouting, “Thank you, Jayme,” to the daughter of Thunder trainer Joe Sharpe who was sitting nearby.
“I would never say no other man’s name like that, for one,” Westbrook said. “‘Thank you Kyrie,’ who do I look like?”
In addition, ESPN noted Westbrook concluded his pregame routine at approximately 4:02 p.m. local time, and Irving didn’t hit his game-winner until 4:15.