Joakim Noah explains the viral Devin Booker ‘double-team’ video
Sep 15, 2023, 6:00 PM | Updated: 7:48 pm
Joakim Noah #55 of the LA Clippers dribbles the ball against the Oklahoma City Thunder during overtime at The Field House at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 14, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Joakim Noah was never a shy one about sharing his opinion on the basketball court and off.
But one opinion he didn’t think was a wild one went viral. Back in 2019, a workout of NBA players including Noah and Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker went viral.
In it, Noah asked for a double team of Booker, who then took heat for not wanting to face doubles in a group workout setting. Mind you, he was months removed from spending an entire season on a 19-win club being the most double-teamed player in the NBA.
The clip caught on like wildfire for Booker’s reaction more than Noah’s.
The latter, however, didn’t realize he’d set off a viral moment when in the heat of the moment.
“Sensationalism at its finest,” Noah said on the latest Pardon My Take podcast more than four years later. “C’mon man. We’re playing to 11, the guy has the first nine buckets of the game. I’m like, yo, it’s a close game, I’m not trying to get off the court. I get it, some guys might not care about winning in pickup. I want to (expletive) win.
“It was just second nature to me. Then, next thing I know, this thing is going viral. Kobe’s talking about what he would do. Then like, oh (expletive), it’s a real conversation. And then I go to, I’m at Nobu in Malibu the next day and who do I bump into right away? D-Book’s sitting there. It’s weird, like, ‘What’s up?””
That video (explicit language included) to go along with Noah’s explanation apparently means that an accompanying highlight reel from the same workout very well could have been all of his points leading up to that moment.
Whatever Booker has been doing in the offseason works, agree with him or not.
