It would appear the Oklahoma City Thunder do not have an open-door policy. There was an altercation and heated words exchanged between Thunder center Kendrick Perkins and Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah inside the Thunder's locker room Thursday night following Oklahoma City's 107-95 victory over Chicago that led to Noah being chased from the Thunder locker room.
According to ESPN, following the Thunder's victory, Noah's former teammate with the Bulls Thabo Sefolosha entered the Bulls' locker room to talk to Noah and other members of the Bulls staff. ESPN reports that after that, Sefolosha brought Noah back to the Thunder dressing room, which was still filled with reporters that were waiting to talk to Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.
Perkins wasn't happy to see Noah in his team's locker room, and lashed out at him leading to Noah being chased from the area.
The Oklahoman reported the following transcript, which was recorded while the paper was interviewing Sefolosha after he brought Noah back into the locker room.
Perkins: "They just let anybody in the locker room?"
Noah: "C'mon man."
Perkins: "I'm just asking though."
Noah: "C'mon man."
Perkins: "Just let anybody in the locker room now?"
Noah: "You want me to wait outside?"
Perkins: "I'm just saying, though."
Noah: "If you want me to wait outside, I'll wait outside."
Perkins: "Get your a-- up outta here."
Noah: "Aight."
According to ESPN, the two bumped into each other again when they were exiting the arena and exchanged words as Noah was heading towards the Bulls bus, but nothing else happened between the two and it didn't escalate.
According to ESPN, the Bulls have an open-door policy with former players that are welcome in their locker room and former players go in and out of their rooms all of the time, while it wouldn't seem like the same events unfold with the Thunder very often.
Chicago and Oklahoma don't play against until March 17.
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