“Defending His Teammates”: Paul Pierce Sides With Desmond Bane After Drilling OG Anunoby With the Ball

Yesterday afternoon, the New York Knicks were able to pick up a big 106-100win over the Orlando Magic. However, the discourse surrounding the game has nothing to do with the Knicks’ success. Instead, all eyes were on an interaction between Desmond Bane and OG Anunoby. The Magic guard inexplicably decided to drill the two-way forward with the ball. As random as the situation felt, Paul Pierce believes there was a reason for Bane’s actions.

In the fourth quarter of their duel, the game was still anybody’s for the taking. With just over 6 minutes remaining, the Knicks held on to an 11-point lead. Following a Mikal Bridges steal, New York had a fastbreak opportunity to extend the lead even further. The following events were quite bizarre.

Bridges pitched the ball up ahead to a streaking OG Anunoby. Magic guards Anthony Black and Jalen Suggs closed in the distance and eventually forced a stop. Anunoby stumbled out of bounds, but the ball stayed in play. However, Bane picked the ball and threw it at Anunoby.

Typically, players only throw the ball off someone when they are falling out of bounds. Bane had complete control of his balance. Tempers briefly flared between the two teams, which led to Bane receiving a technical foul.

Desmond Bane WYD⁉️ pic.twitter.com/WTU2qswlYK

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 7, 2025

Obviously, in the moment, there’s nothing funny about what Bane did. But since the game’s intensity has died down, the clip has been the source of plenty of jokes on social media. Former NBA players Danny Green and Paul Pierce chimed in on the discourse.

Green couldn’t stop laughing as he shared his insight on the entire ordeal on the No Fouls Given podcast.

“The slow-mo makes it look crazy,” Green proclaimed. “He could have just dropped [the ball] on him. I think in his mind, he just had a brain fart because after they were cool.”

Surprisingly, Anunoby and Bane appeared to be cool with each other shortly after. As a result, Green believes Bane’s actions must’ve been a lapse in judgment. Pierce, on the other hand, doesn’t quite share the same sentiment as his co-host.

“[Anunoby] grabbed Suggs’ arm and had him fall. He was defending his teammate,” Pierce said.

Bane does have a track record of going the extra mile for the sake of his team. There were countless instances where the 6-foot-6 forward would get into altercations defending his teammates while with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Pierce could understand Bane’s actions, but not Anunoby’s push. Green, who was once a teammate with Anunoby on the Toronto Raptors, provided a voice of reasoning.

“OG was like, ‘Why would you do some s*** like that?'” Green said.

The most important thing is nobody got seriously hurt. Now, when both Bane and Anunoby look back on this situation, they could share a quick laugh. The rest of the basketball world has wasted no time in doing such.