The New Orleans Pelicans’ 3-game road trip ended with a loss and then a scuffle.
Pelicans’ rookie guard Jeremiah Fears and Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort got into an altercation right as the final buzzer sounded Tuesday night in the Pelicans’ 104-95 loss at Paycom Center.
The incident started moments after Fears rebounded a 3-point shot by Herb Jones with 0.2 seconds left. Fears put up a shot as time expired and appeared to be fouled by Dort. No call was made, ending the game. Dort then shoved Fears. Then Dort shoved Fears a second time. The two grabbed each other’s jerseys while shoving. Players and coaches from both teams rushed to the floor to break up the altercation. No punches were thrown.
Lu Dort and Jeremiah Fears got into it on the final play of the game 😳 pic.twitter.com/pd57nEKb5f
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 28, 2026
OKC coach Mark Daigneault says the situation could have been avoided.
"I think that's a foul on Dort," Daigneault said. "If it was, they should put a whistle on that play regardless of the score and the time. Because if they do that, everybody stops playing and you legislate the situation as you normally would. But because they didn't put a whistle on it, it's the end of the game and they can do nothing about it and you end up with that situation."
Fears had to be restrained. He was eventually escorted off the court and to the locker room by Pelicans’ security officer Sherman Mushatt and Jordan Dumars, son of executive vice-president of basketball operations Joe Dumars.
Still holding Fears after the game. pic.twitter.com/AzL7FLwaGS
— Jerry Ramsey (@TVsJerry) January 28, 2026
It was the second altercation in the game.
The first one involved Pelicans’ forward Saddiq Bey and OKC’s Jaylin Williams with 1:18 left. That one didn’t quite escalate like the one between Fears and Dort.
"Good guys, good (officiating) crew," Daigneault said. "But I thought they lost control of the game in the final minutes. I thought that altercation at the end started well before that with the Bey and Jay Will situation. I thought they could have managed that cleaner."