DeMarcus Cousins weighed in on the heated moment between OG Anunoby and Desmond Bane, bluntly saying Anunoby should have “slap[ped] the sh*t out of him” after Bane threw the ball at Anunoby following a whistle.
The comment came after the incident at Madison Square Garden where Bane fired the ball at Anunoby as he was on the floor, an action officials deemed a hostile act and penalized with a technical foul.
Desmond Bane t’d up for flinging ball at OG Anunoby pic.twitter.com/m5LYezhI4z
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) December 7, 2025
Cousins’ reaction became a headline in its own right as he questioned Anunoby’s measured response and urged a more forceful stand against what he viewed as unsportsmanlike conduct. His quote was a call for Anunoby to respond physically, capturing the tenor of Cousins’ disbelief that a ball thrown at a player after the whistle did not spark a larger confrontation.
Boogie Cousins called out OG Anunoby for not properly defending himself against Desmond Bane
“I’m not saying punch him in the face, but maybe slap the sh*t out of him.”
(🎥 @RunItBackFDTV )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 8, 2025
Bane threw the ball at Anunoby with significant force after officials had blown the play dead, prompting Anunoby to stand, give Bane a light shove, and ask, “What are you doing?” The officials assessed Bane a technical foul for the act, and reporting noted the clip as a defining flashpoint in the Knicks’ six-point win that night. Subsequent coverage stated Bane was fined $35,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct stemming from the incident.
Desmond Bane fined $35,000 for throwing ball with force at OG Anunoby, NBA says pic.twitter.com/ky7yfRVZYm
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) December 8, 2025
Rather than escalate, Anunoby downplayed the moment afterward.
“I was confused at first, then it was funny,” he said, adding, “I like Desmond… He’s a good dude.”
Cousins’ framing touched a familiar nerve in NBA culture: the line between composure and retaliation when confronted with perceived disrespect. His stance emphasized an old-school expectation to meet such acts with immediate pushback, while Anunoby’s restraint reflected a modern tendency toward de-escalation and letting officials and the league office handle discipline.
