The NBA playoffs have a new beef. On one side, we have someone so ridiculously photogenic that they could have, years ago, convincingly played a male model. On the other we have Ben Stiller, because that’s right, he’s now feuding with Kelly Oubre as the latter’s Sixers get set to take on Stiller’s Knicks in the first round.
How did this start? With a recent clip of a post-practice interview Oubre did with the media, of course, where he praised Knicks fans but then endeared himself to the Philly faithful by going full heel and taking a potshot at New York’s propensity to give complimentary tickets to celebrities in order to add to the allure of the so-called Mecca of Basketball:
Kelly Oubre is excited for the opportunity to play at Madison Square Garden, praising the fans’ appreciation of basketball culture.
Also:
“They’re going to give celebrities those $100,000 free tickets just to be there and not care about the game” pic.twitter.com/160CdoD86u
— PHLY Sixers (@PHLY_Sixers) April 19, 2024
When broadcast journalist Alan Hahn asked Stiller, potentially the most passionate celebrity Knicks fan online — seriously, go look at his Twitter feed, he is as obsessed as we all are with our favorite teams — to respond in character as the villain he played in “Dodgeball”, White Goodman, Stiller accepted the challenge ahead of Game 1:
That nickname is going to go triple-platinum the first time Oubre shoots below 30% from the field in this series, but Oubre’s response might have been even better when hero/journalist Taryn Hatcher asked him if he saw Stiller’s tweet:
And Stiller may want to be careful here. Oubre has shown throughout his career that he is particularly willing to engage when it comes to getting into various beefs. Most recently, the Sixers starter made headlines when he was fined $50,000 for calling an entire officiating crew’s set of bloodlines b—hes, but he also can be more subtle. In 2018, for example, he untied Rodney Hood’s shoes in the middle of a game.
What I’m saying is that Stiller should be warned: If Kelly comes up to you and tries to make nice and joke around before the game… just check your shoes after to make sure you don’t trip.
We’ll see if this beef escalates when the Sixers take on the Knicks in Madison Square Garden on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET, but even if it doesn’t, I hope more celebrities follow in Stiller’s example and start feuds with random role players.
Can we get lifelong Lakers courtside fan Dyan Cannon to tell Michael Porter Jr. his podcast sucks? Can the Timberwolves unban ARod from their arena so he can start a fight with Bol Bol? Do the Orlando Magic have any celebrity fans who can call Dean Wade a coward for the Cavs ducking their way into the fourth seed?
The possibilities are endless, and I hope Stiller just started a trend we all get to enjoy.
