The Minnesota Timberwolves suffered a back-breaking 108-115 defeat at home to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 3 of their Western semifinals series. On a night where Anthony Edwards and Victor Wembanyama were having an elite scoring battle, Jaden McDaniels was struggling to find any rhythm on the offensive end of the floor.
And things went from bad to worse for him as his frustrations came to the surface, and tensions flared during the third quarter of the game. With less than five minutes left in the third quarter, McDaniels got into an altercation with Stephon Castle of the Spurs, where both players ended up shoving each other and had to eventually be held back from a full-blown fight.
McDaniels was guarding Stephon Castle when the play was stopped after Dylan Harper had collapsed on the defensive end. Right after the whistle, Castle shoved McDaniels away from him, as he was holding him even after the whistle, and swatted the ball away.
The Timberwolves forward took exception to this and shoved him back with one hand, and was ready to punch him with the other before the official, Keldon Johnson, and Naz Reid stepped in to separate the two players.
FULL MOMENT: Jaden McDaniels has to be held back from Stephon Castle after shoving each other pic.twitter.com/0bUT1L1HmM
— NBAbzy (@nbabzyy) May 9, 2026
NBA fans saw this incident on social media and ripped Jaden McDaniels to shreds for instigating a scuffle by swatting the ball away, which Castle seemingly did not appreciate.
“McDaniels is slowly turning into [Dillon] Brooks.”
“Jaden McDaniels is on an insane ragebait run.”
“Castle is not scared of a fake demon.”
“Just take the L, fool.”
“McDaniels is starting to get corny.”
“McDaniels can’t use the ‘they can’t play defense’ excuse again.”
Various such reactions flooded social media as NBA fans pointed out how Jaden McDaniels has been stepping into the villain role that players like Dillon Brooks and Draymond Green have taken up in the past.
Even in the first round, it was McDaniels who began trash-talking about the Nuggets to the press before eventually getting into a full-blown altercation with Nikola Jokic on the court.
McDaniels finished the game with 17 points, seven rebounds, and two assists while shooting 5-22 from the field (22.7 FG%) and 3-8 from beyond the arc (37.5 3P%).
But it is interesting to note that he got into it with arguably the one player on the Spurs who is seemingly playing a similar role for San Antonio in these playoffs, Stephon Castle.
Castle has previously gotten into two aggressive incidents before last night. In the first round, he got into a scuffle with Deni Avdija, and in Game 2 of the second round, he got into a dust-up with Bones Hyland as well.
However, one cannot blame Stephon Castle for this incident, as it was clearly Jaden McDaniels who instigated the incident by holding him and swatting the ball away when the game was stopped.
Castle remained calm and was not trying to exacerbate the matter when people had intervened to pull the players away. The former Rookie of the Year ended the game with 13 points, 12 assists, and four rebounds while going 3-11 from the field (27.3 FG%).
The Spurs got the last laugh as they managed to win and regain the home-court advantage they lost in Game 1. Things are bound to get aggressive and chippy when it’s playoff basketball and your season is on the line. It will be interesting to see if either player addresses this altercation, but neither has done so far.
