James Worthy was one of the best college players of his era, he led the UNC Tar Heels to a college championship alongside a young Michael Jordan before he declared for the NBA. Now, while Worthy is often remembered third to Magic and Kareem on the Showtime Lakers, there is no doubting that he was absolutely dominant when he was in college. In fact, he was even beating Michael Jordan in 1-on-1 games around that time.
Worthy is remembered for some iconic plays he made during that run to the championship in 1982, but there’s a lesser-known clip of his that has gone viral on the internet. Worthy had a player challenge him at the rim when he was going for the dunk and not only did he put him on a poster but his opponent was further embarrassed by an emphatic foul call by the referee as he lay on the ground.
This is the most disrespectful foul call I have ever seen a ref make pic.twitter.com/GHmRPYnme7
— Hoops (@HoopMixOnly) March 6, 2022
Twitter account HoopMixOnly shared it calling it the most disrespectful foul call they’d ever seen and fans were in agreement, noting how embarrassing but also funny the whole incident was.
Adam Maloney: “I can’t stop laughing at this.”
Bandotr3y: “Imagine you get dunked on and ref pull this ish.”
Chris Citorik: “I can’t stop watching this and laughing…the initial call is pretty bad, but that second point is just so emphatic it feels deeply personal.”
Maybe Daniel: “He really didn’t have to do him like that. Buddy just got dunked on and then gets the most disrespectful foul call in history.”
Chris Ponder: “It’s so unnecessarily confrontational.”
Kamui Spammer: “I am crying at this bro why was the ref so hype to call this foul?”
Dakota Mykal Hamende: “Imagine getting postered and you look up and see the ref with his finger in your face giving a foul call. Ruthless.”
Paul Kieffer: “Only thing missing was the ref giving a high-five to the player who dunked it.”
Kyle Sorenson: “stared him down and pointed at him too lmaooo.”
Mike: “YO!! Why did the ref jump with Worthy hahaha.”
Getting dunked on is a part of being a basketball player, even the very best have experienced it at some point in their careers but having a referee get that animated about calling a foul on you after has to sting. At least the player can find some solace in knowing that he got dunked on by one of the greatest players to play the game of basketball.
