After their game against Oklahoma City, Bulls center Joakim Noah went over to the Thunder’s locker room. He wanted to speak with his former teammate Thabo Sefolosha. Not thinking much of it, Noah walked into the locker room while the other players were still in there. One player who did not find this acceptable, Kendrick Perkins.
Noah and Perkins exchanged words, but nothing ever got physical. Basically, Perkins just told him he had problem with him being in there. Maybe not quite that nicely! Some might have seen the incident as Noah trying to disrespect the Thunder players, but that was not his intentions at all. “It doesn’t matter,” Noah said. “Just nothing. Just trying to chill with Thabo. It’s all good. … It’s not that serious.
He did, however, talk about Perkins reaction, calling him an “angry dude”. He also said that he already explained the incident with NBA security and that it was no big deal. Chicago head coach Tom Thibodeau tried to explain why Perkins may have felt that Noah did not belong in the locker room.
“You see it sometimes where a player — like Thabo played for the Bulls,” Thibodeau said. “So if a guy played for the team it’s not a big deal but usually guys will wait outside . . . It’s more or less frowned upon to go into someone else’s locker room where you haven’t played.”
It does not sound like these two will have bad blood in the future. The Bulls need to worry about staying healthy the rest of the season.
