Devin Booker went to war this week with The Raptor, the official mascot of the Toronto Raptors. After shooting a free throw in the otherwise empty ScotiaBank Arena, Booker complained about the mascot’s attempt to distract him, which led to The Raptor moving elsewhere out of Booker’s line of sight. Apparently, all is well between the two, as evidence by the fact that both of them changed their Twitter pictures recently.
#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/WnUyNxt1JQ
— Book (@DevinBook) January 12, 2022
#NewerProfilePic pic.twitter.com/w7Z8xtcaXY
— The Raptor (@the_raptor) January 13, 2022
It was all very, very silly, especially because a human in a big dinosaur mascot had to go off into a corner because they were yelled at by an NBA player. Anyway, Friday night is the Phoenix Suns’ first game since that incident, as they made their way to Indiana to play the Pacers.
Thankfully, some folks in Indianapolis have a good sense of humor, because someone decided to have a person dress up in a dinosaur costume and bust Booker’s chops. Before the game even started, Booker’s pregame warm-up was interrupted — well, kind of — by the person in the costume, with Booker seeing things and addressing whomever was in that thing.
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) January 15, 2022
The Pacers have brought out a dinosaur, presumably to defend The Raptor’s honor against Devin Booker. We will be monitoring this developing situation closely. pic.twitter.com/kF6rX9L3nE
— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) January 15, 2022
During the Suns’ lineup introduction, the Pacers decided to play the theme song from noted thing about dinosaurs Jurassic Park.
After @the_raptor got sent to the corner after trying to distract Suns guard at the FT line earlier this week, Pacers had a blowup dinosaur just off the court looking at Devin Booker during warmups.
Then played “Welcome to Jurassic Park” during Suns player introductions. pic.twitter.com/svPBJquGWv
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) January 15, 2022
And then, during the game, the person in the costume decided to press their luck a la The Raptor by trying to distract Booker during free throws. They even had a sign!
Devin Booker goes to the free throw line, instructs someone off-camera to “bring him in” numerous times.@PacersBoomer ??? pic.twitter.com/RT7UYLtQft
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) January 15, 2022
.@DevinBook what do you think? pic.twitter.com/pAgstP3Rr5
— Boomer (@PacersBoomer) January 15, 2022
To every other NBA team: Please pay for a dinosaur costume for when Booker comes to town.