Former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Eddie Johnson pushed back hard on Oklahoma City Thunder fans blaming injuries after the Spurs defeated the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, calling out the pattern of excuses and citing other injury-impacted teams who
A new NBA champion is coming for the 2025-26 season after the San Antonio Spurs dethroned Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder in a grueling Western Conference Finals series.
For Thunder fans, the sting of that exit has come with a familiar refrain: injuries. The absences that mattered most, they say, were Ajay Mitchell and Jalen Williams, both sidelined for the series.
But Eddie Johnson — a former NBA Sixth Man of the Year — didn’t buy it. In a social media post on X, he told Thunder supporters to stop relying on injury talk. “Hey@okcthunder fans calm down with the injury crap. Last year Denver and Indiana suffered injuries. You won. This year Suns, Lakers and even San Antonio had injuries. No excuses,” Johnson wrote.
The post didn’t land quietly. Fans immediately spilled into the replies with their own take on what “calm down” even means after a series that slipped away.
One user fired back with contempt for the message itself. saying. “What a stupid post this is.” Another questioned Johnson’s tone and insisted fans get to feel what they feel. replying. “How about you don’t tell people how to feel. We’ll take it from here Edward. ” while a different fan accused him of bias: “Dude chill you hate the Thunder it’s obvious. but we’ll be back. we will be back!!. ” one commenter wrote.
Johnson wasn’t met with polite disagreement either. A separate response was blunt and profanity-laced: “Hey Eddie— respectfully, pipe the f**k down.”
The argument stayed rooted in injuries, but the frustration shifted toward a contradiction fans saw in how excuses get accepted. One comment pointed to earlier references that the Pacers “would have beaten us if not for injuries all year. ” and asked why that logic can’t apply in the Thunder’s case. “So we listen to people say the Pacers would have beaten us if not for injuries all year. but we can’t?” the user wrote.
Even with injuries part of the conversation, the Thunder still had a path back to the NBA Finals. They held a 3-2 series advantage and home-court advantage heading into Game 7. They just couldn’t capitalize — and the Spurs moved on instead.
That’s the core of the push-and-pull playing out in public now: Mitchell and Williams being out is part of the story. but Johnson’s point is that other contenders have dealt with injuries and still found ways through. Fans, in turn, argue whether they’re allowed to say injuries mattered after OKC fell short.
Either way, the result is already set — San Antonio is celebrating, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder are watching from the outside, and the debate over what’s a fair explanation won’t stop just because the series is over.
Eddie Johnson San Antonio Spurs Oklahoma City Thunder Western Conference Finals Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Victor Wembanyama Ajay Mitchell Jalen Williams Game 7 NBA 2025-26 champion